The Tower: The Revolution
by Laina Inverse
Summary: Koenma's had seven months to improve, but is seven really enough when King Enma is back and clearly intent on continuing with his attempts to gain a foothold in Makai? With the help of Kimiko and the rest, he has a chance to save all three worlds... but the idea of confronting his father is more than just a little intimidating.
1. One

One

"-and word has come from the craters that someone's trying to make portals in, but whatever Kimiko seeded into the area a few months ago still seems to be working, so at best they get a view of the destruction, and at worst, absolutely nothing happens."

Koenma had never been allowed to be part of his father's councils before. He'd always been too busy stamping papers for the souls of the dead to even consider going and eavesdropping. Being invited to this one, overseen by Raizen, was definitely interesting...

Also heavily unnerving. He'd been too distracted by their idea of training for the past seven months to pay more attention to what was going on around them, but it was clear enough that he was an outlier there; Kimiko looked pleased, almost smug, and Koenma had to wonder just what she'd put out that had been so effective against portals. Hell, he hadn't even known she was _researching_ that, and he was spending most of his free time in the library, reading whatever books she gave him.

"Any sense about where the origin is?" she asked.

"Reikai, unfortunately," Botan sighed softly. "Both Kiren and Luca seemed absolutely certain when I asked."

Koenma felt his stomach drop a little; the reason he was here, had been here for the past seven months... His father, King Enma. His father, and the choices that had been made that had almost lost him a budding friendship, among other things.

Maybe he had been avoiding the information as much as just not hearing it, but he knew enough. Enma had been brainwashing demons of lower energy strength and setting them on the humans of Ningenkai. Humans were collateral in this scenario; the real aim was to make the denizens of Reikai think that demons were savage, brutal, and needed to be conquered.

There was no denying that some demons _were_ savage and brutal, who needed to be kept away from others, but they were a fairly low minority in the grand scheme of things. Most demons he'd had the privilege of meeting were cunning, smart, and while they might regard humans on a whole as a meal, there was enough collective sense that the humans as a whole wouldn't be descending into extinction any time soon.

Which meant Enma's desire for control continued to go thwarted, and the reasons for that at the moment were all tucked into the same room.

Koenma flicked a glance around at each of them, trying not to betray his nerves; Kimiko and Yusuke, Raizen's children, his friends. Jin and Toya, technically his guards, former shinobi, who now enjoyed the freedom to work as they pleased under Raizen's hand. Amber-Ember, the guardian Kimiko had assigned to him less than a year prior. Kurama, a human who harbored the soul of a demon. Botan, a former Spirit Guide of Reikai, who now used her ability to slip between worlds to gather information for them. Hiei, technically Yusuke's bodyguard, owner of the Jagan eye that could see whatever the wielder desired.

And Raizen himself, who sat at the head of the table, looking mostly unconcerned about the events that were likely to start taking place in his territory yet again. Then again, Raizen had the right to look calm; he and his friends had enough combined power to destroy Ningenkai if they wanted. They _had_ destroyed a good portion of the mountains in Tourin after inviting Enma's pursuing army onto their turf. Not to mention the army.

He still wasn't entirely sure becoming their political prisoner had been the right choice, but it had been better than sitting in his office and trying to pretend that he wasn't involved in anything. And considering everything that _had_ happened, he was lucky he had as much freedom as he did... The friendship that Kimiko had offered after everything had been unexpected, and he cherished the gift of it.

"We can't seed the whole of Makai with anti-portal wards, as nice as that would be," Kimiko was saying as he pulled his mind back to the events at hand. "For one thing, it does work both ways; they might not be able to get in, but we also can't get out. For another, Makai is just too damn big."

Big was an understatement. Sort of like saying a typhoon would get a person a bit wet. There wasn't much chance in any hell that Enma could even _start_ taking control over parts of it; word had spread quickly through various territories outside of Tourin that Enma had tried to make Kimiko a hostage, and what little welcome Reikai apparitions _had_ was thin enough that some places had chased them out entirely.

And yet, his father still seemed intent on trying. It was baffling.

"Eventually they're going to catch on that they can't make a portal there, and will try to find another space with thinner walls where it can be done," she continued, lightly tapping the table with her fingertips. "Or they'll try coming at us through Ningenkai, which, I'm kind of surprised they haven't tried that yet."

"There's too much chance that the humans will attack them too," Botan said with a small shake of her head. "Lots of Momo's people have taken their trees to Ningenkai for safe replanting, and they've told the humans that it was Reikai who started everything."

Yusuke and Jin both snickered.

"It's probably helped that some Tourin demons have been taking turns being guardians of towns," Kurama said, reaching over to cover Kimiko's tapping fingers with his own. "It allows the humans to understand that we have a vested interest in them _not_ being caught in the middle."

Kimiko cast him a small, soft smile, and Koenma stifled a flicker of envy. Not because Kurama so clearly had Kimiko's affection, oh no. Kimiko was much like a sister to him, and Yusuke a brother. Funny, considering he had no actual siblings... No, it was more he wondered what it would be like to be on the receiving end of that sort of expression... from Amber.

Amber-Ember, who's fiery hair formed a halo around her face at the moment, and was saying nothing. He pulled his gaze away before she could notice him staring, and pushed those thoughts out of his mind. Not that they weren't pleasant; they were. He just doubted they were welcome.

"Have there been any specific attacks on those towns where Tourin demons reside?" Kimiko asked.

Botan consulted her notes, then shook her head.

"Not yet But a few of them suspect it's only a matter of time."

"It would be easy enough for Reikai to claim that they attacked the town to remove the demons, and the humans were caught in the crossfire," Toya pointed out in his quiet way.

The nods and grimaces around the table made Koenma wish he had something to contribute. There _had_ to be something he could offer, otherwise, why would he be there?

"We need listeners."

Hiei, never big on words, surprised everyone by speaking.

"Care to elaborate, half-pint?" Yusuke asked dryly.

A crimson glower did nothing against Yusuke's smirk, and Koenma very slightly sat back in his chair; he wasn't entirely sure how their friendship stayed intact, really...

"Apparitions like Momo. Or earthwalkers," Hiei replied, a little sardonically.

"Eavesdroppers," Kimiko supplied, looking a little uneasy.

"I know of one," Kurama said after a moment. "I can get word to them, and perhaps they can get word farther out. If we are going to have a listening network, we'll need more than one or two."

"We can ask Momo ta help," Jin volunteered with an easy grin. "Maybe not herself-self, but I bet she can reach a few of her people."

"They're going to spend a lot of time being bored as fuck," Yusuke said.

"Better bored than unawares," Hiei retorted.

It was hard to argue with that point, though if Kimiko's expression was anything to go by, she kind of wanted to.

"Is that it then?" Yusuke asked, lacing his hands behind his head.

"That's all the information at the moment," Botan replied.

Yusuke cast a sidelong glance at his sister, who sighed a little.

"Okay. Kurama, you get in touch with your earthwalker, and see what they can get for you. Jin, you and Toya talk to Momo, and see if she can't at least try and recruit a few of her fellow apparitions for us. Koenma," and he jumped when she looked at him. "You need to make a decision on what you're doing soon."

"D-doing?"

"About your old man," Yusuke snorted a little. "Or are you just gonna let him do as he pleases, and continue trying to blame us for everything going wrong in Ningenkai?"

Koenma winced; all right, so maybe he _had_ been trying to put that off. But he couldn't exactly be blamed for it; the idea of trying to overthrow his own father would have been funny if it wasn't frightening.

And it seemed more than marginally unfair to get that sort of scold from someone who didn't have the same sort of tumultuous relationship with their parent. Kimiko and Yusuke had never had _reason_ to fear Raizen; for all his power, they were secure in the fact that his affection for them would outweigh his temper. Koenma did not have that same security... for all he had quietly rebelled in staying in Makai, he wasn't ready to face the consequences of that.

"No, but... what do you expect me to do about it?" he asked, trying to sound less resentful than he felt.

"Step up and stop him," Yusuke retorted. "That's what you're _supposed_ to do when someone's making life shitty for others."

"Koenma, a wide-scale rebellion is going to happen whether you want it to or not," Kimiko said, shooting her brother an annoyed look. "It already _is_. If you come out on the side of the rebellion that's _not_ with your father, you'll find more people in Reikai flock to you than you might think."

Yes, and that was terrifying too. He was less than a century old; how many of those people would be looking to try and rule _through_ him?

Raizen leaned forward in his seat, and the entire air of the tabled changed, as they all turned to look at him, even Koenma. Strength, power, and calm certainty, with a hint of wildness, those were Raizen's most noticeable traits. A temper that could flash like lightning, a proud, arrogant attitude that was backed by skill, and an energy level that few beings could claim.

But the more time Koenma spent around him, the less unnerved by Raizen he became. Sometimes it felt more like he'd been informally adopted, and he'd had to stop himself on several occasions from calling the demon 'Dad'. He wasn't sure Raizen would be amused... though he knew Yusuke would probably fall over laughing.

"If Enma finds his way to Tourin, we will deal with that," Raizen said calmly. "It's still the humans that are the most vulnerable, and likely to be caught in the middle. So if you're not willing to defy him for yourself, defy him for the humans."

Koenma swallowed a little, and bowed his head. He could hear the warning under the words; if he didn't decide soon, he would have the decision made for him.

* * *

"Father, was that really necessary?" Kimiko asked once everyone else had filed out. "He's having a hard enough time as it is."

"The boy has to choose," Raizen replied implacably.

"Yes, and he knows it," she replied, hands on hips. "It's not exactly fair to try and manipulate him the way you just did."

A thing smile crossed her father's face.

"If it was obvious to you, it'll be obvious to him. Maybe it'll be that kick in the ass that he needs."

"It just... seems unfair," and she sighed a little.

"It is," and the agreement surprised her. "He can't be allowed to remain ignorant forever though, you know this."

"I know..."

She'd allowed Koenma to deliberately ignore anything that might deal with confronting his father, thinking that maybe if they gave him time to catch his breath and balance, he'd come to the idea on his own. But it wasn't like she'd been _subtle_ about the books she'd given; each of them had been about war, tactics, and survival. Things he was going to need if he was going to take over.

"So then, what will you do?" Raizen asked.

"Well, whatever choice he makes, we're all agreed that Enma needs to get kicked off his throne. Koenma's the _logical_ replacement, but if he's not behind it, it won't go well." Kimiko sighed and ran a hand through her hair, absently twining some gold and black strands around her fingers. "Botan's working on a list of whatever Reikai nobility might make a good stand in, but because of how much care she's had to take, it's not a very long one."

"Does your brother have any plans?"

Kimiko snorted.

"Yuu, plan? Since when? That's _my_ job, remember?"

Raizen's grin was sharp, and after a moment, she shook her head lightly.

"I'm not sure what to do with him right now, really... I suppose he'll get involved where and when he wants," and Kimiko shrugged. "Kurama's got experience in recruiting people for groups and things, so I'll leave that to him, and Botan seems to be working out really well with information gathering. I don't _think_ we'll convince Momo to spy, but we might be able to get her to be the one they report to. I'll let Jin and Toya handle that unless they ask for help. Have I left anything out?"

It was actually quite helpful to talk with her father; Raizen had three or four lifetimes of experience on her, which meant he knew how to plan properly.

"Perhaps time to relax?"

...and then there were the days where he just made fun of her. Kimiko rolled her eyes in tolerant amusement, and lightly swatted his shoulder with a sheaf of loose pages. That he let her was telling enough; while he certainly did encourage play-fighting, it wasn't always _safe_ to do so with him.

"You're hilarious. I'm _serious_."

"Perhaps a little too much so," and he reached over to ruffle her hair, making her yelp. "You've focused on training and giving subtle nudges to your friend. What about your _other_ relationships?"

Heat crept up her neck, and she half-glared. While keeping Raizen informed of her activities with Kurama _was_ sort of necessary, she wasn't inclined to go heavily into detail. He was her _father_ , for goodness sake, and it was kind of embarrassing.

Not that anything really _was_ happening. He was right in saying that she had been giving most of her attention to training Koenma, Botan, and Momo. But she and Kurama had agreed to carve out time in the evenings to talk, or just sit together, and at least half those nights ended with them sharing a bed. Not sex, just... cuddling. She was sleeping better than she had in years, and though she still had her nightmares, the were noticeably downgraded from what they had been. It had been a good six months since she'd woken up by clamping down the desire to scream.

It did make her wonder though, if Kurama's patience was running out. He _seemed_ content to keep to her speed, their friendship and romance intertwining the way it did, but was he really? It was a question she would have to bring up to him later...

"They're fine. Nothing untoward is happening." She paused fore a moment, then nodded slightly. "Oh, though, Kurama would like to see if we could make a trip before everything explodes into action; he'd like to take me up to Edo to meet his family."

"You're taking-"

"I'll take To'o because I'm still not portal proficient, and I'll see if Jin or Toya want to come along, but I'm _not_ taking a giant group of people," she interrupted, frowning at him. "Especially not now, when going out in a large group could paint a target more than a small one."

Raizen leaned back slightly, his eyes narrowing. Kimiko crossed her arms stubbornly across her chest and stared back.

She knew it had been hard on her father, the idea that someone might have tried to hold her again, but unlike the first twenty years of her life, Kimiko had learned how to fight, had grown into her abilities, and also more into herself. While he had organized a way to get her out, she had planned her own escape, having been singularly unwilling to sit and wait. Raizen was still coming to terms with the idea that she wasn't helpless, but she was slowly starting to win that particular fight.

"Why not Amber?" he finally asked, his voice a soft growl.

It was probably as much concession as he was willing to give in the moment, and she relaxed a little, shrugging lightly.

"Amber is currently assigned to Koenma, and I think they have some emotions they need to actually sit and talk about... though who knows if either of them will actually broach the topic. With Jin and Toya, I can leave one of them to take care of Momo while the other joins us on a walk through Ningenkai."

She kept her tone practical, and was rewarded with a slight snort from her father.

"You think Amber-Ember likes the princeling?"

"I think Amber likes both Koenma _and_ Botan, but doesn't want to say anything in case they're not as relaxed about relationships as we are," and she shrugged again. "It's not really my spot to interfere, though. They have to figure it out themselves."

That made him smirk.

"So, it'll take another century."

She laughed a little.

"It might. Permission granted?"

"...take your brother."

Kimiko rolled her eyes tolerantly. Really, she _had_ expected that.

"All right, all right. Yuu _did_ say he wanted to see what Edo was all about when it came up last time."

"And inform me before you go."

She snorted a little, and gave him a quick, fond hug. Her paranoid father was doing his best to let her take her own steps, and she couldn't help but love him for it.

"As if I'd do anything else."

* * *

Kurama had been waiting patiently at the end of the walkway for her, and smiled as she approached. It had been, he felt, a fruitful meeting; there was a good deal of things to be done, and Kimiko was the adept hand at assignments. Not a loud, bold leader like her brother, but a calmer, more thoughtful one. An interesting dichotomy, at least from his viewpoint.

She looked preoccupied, but when she realized he was there, color touched her cheeks and a small smile crossed her face.

"You didn't have to wait," she said.

"I wanted to," he replied, reaching over to relieve her of some of the paperwork. "I also wished to know if you brought it up with Lord Raizen."

Kimiko nodded, absently reshuffling a few pages as she fell into step beside him.

"He says we have to take Yusuke, but he didn't protest about me insisting the group stay small. Given a choice, I'd prefer to take Toya over Jin, because Jin and Yuu in the same group is _bound_ to be loud. And of course, I expect he'll want to start in Heian-kyo to check on Kazuma..."

Kurama nodded a little in understanding; he'd expected that they'd have to take her brother. It put Raizen more at ease to have the twins together when they left his eye, or so he'd noticed.

"I don't object to including either one," he said with a wry smile. "Or the side-trip. Hopefully time with retain some consistency while we are in Ningenkai."

She groaned a little, and lightly shoulder-checked him for the reminder of how well that had gone _last_ time. To be fair, it _was_ difficult to pin down the time transition between worlds; while most days Ningenkai moved faster than Makai, there were days where they matched, or—as was the case seven months prior—Makai sped ahead while Ningenkai slowed.

"Which way do you think Koenma will lean?" she asked after a moment.

"I think he is an intrinsic leader, much like you," Kurama said after considering the question. "If young and untried. He might not entirely relish the idea of going against his father, but he'll likely come to the conclusion that it's unavoidable. Whether he'll like that conclusion or not, I cannot say, but I think he will eventually agree that someone has to take over."

Kimiko nodded slightly, going pensively quiet. Glancing over, he made a softly inquisitive sound to catch her attention. She blinked and glanced up at him, then flushed and shook her head slightly.

"Ah... sorry. I just feel bad for him. I mean, if Father was doing this, I'd probably be just as conflicted..."

"But undoubtedly you and Yusuke would come to the same conclusion. This is not a situation that can be allowed to stand. Lower strength demons being brainwashed to cause damage and chaos in Ningenkai is only the start... There are undoubtedly ways it can get much worse."

She grimaced a little in reluctant agreement, and sighed.

"Still. He's admired his father as a distant, somewhat terrifying figure his whole life. I don't want to shove him headlong into the mess if I can avoid it."

Kurama smiled a little, and leaned over to plant a small kiss on her temple.

"Yes, that is because you are kind," he said, chuckled a little as she blushed. "You and Koenma are quite a compatible pair. Were I a lesser person, I might consider being jealous."

It was a tease kindly meant, and she swatted him on the arm with her paperwork.

"Don't be a dummy, dummy," she huffed.

Kurama just chuckled and gave her another small kiss.

* * *

Afternoon training hadn't been easy on him; Koenma's thoughts had been running wild since the mindday meeting, and it showed in how many new bruises he'd collected. Also the ringing head where he'd failed to block Yusuke's kick. It was undoubtedly only Kimiko's rules on _not_ being overly exuberant that had kept him from any broken bones, and her expression as she made sure his skull hadn't been cracked wasn't exactly _comforting_.

"Well, you're not going to die," she said after a minute, sitting back on her heels, "but if you're not going to concentrate, maybe I should let you off early."

It sounded like an easy-out, but Koenma knew better at this point. Out early now meant extra work later, and he carefully shook his head.

"No, I can do this," he said, wishing he sounded more confident than he felt.

"Can you?"

He'd seen a variety of new sides to his friend since he'd started living in Tourin palace; she could be startlingly scathing in her honesty, even as she could be expressively compassionate. Right now, her brand of brutal honesty contained more than one question, and Koenma found that he didn't know how to answer the second one.

"...I can spar," he finally said.

Her skeptical look deepened, but after a minute she stood up, and offered him her hand. He _did_ need it, so he took the help, and was up a moment later.

"Yusuke, pull your blows a little more," she said, dropping his hand and turning to her brother, who looked only slightly put out. "He needs to learn, not be thrown around the room because you're overly enthusiastic."

"Yeah yeah," Yusuke waved a hand lightly, moderately unimpressed. "Got it, whatever."

"Why is he helping today?" Koenma asked, trying to avoid sounding whiny.

"Because Kurama had to go find the earthwalker he knows.. knew, rather, and Jin is helping Momo with something," she replied. "Toya's doing some research for them in the library, before you ask."

It wasn't fair that Momo got out of training too, but Kimiko tended to go easier on the plum tree apparition due to the requisite replanting of her tree. Momo's recovery wasn't a straight line, especially seeing as her powers had been limited from the start. It still _felt_ unfair, though. It just felt _awkward_ , this business of learning how to fight.

"...Botan, c'mere and partner with Koenma for a bit," Kimiko said after a moment. "No headshots."

Botan, who had been sparring with Amber—and had taken to the training like a duck to water, which was _also_ unfair in his mind—squeaked a little in protest.

"I shouldn't!"

"Yusuke and I get beat up by the monks in training all the time," Kimiko said, unperturbed. "Standard kata, no improvising."

The former Spirit Guide mumbled something under her breath that Koenma thought sounded uncomplimentary; whatever it was, it made Amber giggle slightly. Kimiko just glanced over, one eyebrow raising as she motioned Botan over; Botan came, but with clear reluctance, and Koenma was surprised to realize that he had never actually _sparred_ with her in the whole seven months they'd been there.

"Begin!"

For all she looked unnerved by it, when the command came, Botan obeyed faster than Koenma. He had to throw up the block far more sloppily than he knew any of his instructors liked—he heard Kimiko's slight 'tsk', and Yusuke's annoyed snort—and wasn't exactly the most enthused when it came to actually stepping into the return pattern.

"Oh come _on_ ," Yusuke grumped a little. "Get _in_ there, dude!"

It didn't click until they were halfway through the pattern of blocks and strikes, punches and kicks, that Koenma started to understand what was actually happening. Amber's judgment seemed to be focused wholly on the back and forth,the technical side of the fight, while Yusuke was all about encouraging—in his own way—moderate aggressiveness. Kimiko remained silent, simply watching, and in the moments before he or Botan committed to the next attack, he felt like she was weighing more than just the fighting skills she'd been laboring to teach him.

Of course, figuring out just what took moderately more thought process than he could spare in the moment, and it showed when he failed the block sequence and took a kick to the gut that knocked him on his ass again. Botan's yelp would have been funny if it hadn't been _him_ she'd kicked. Amber shook her head a little as he wrapped an arm around his abused ribs, her expression somewhere between sympathy and amusement as Botan fluttered nervously, not sure what to do.

"Break?" he wheezed hopefully, glancing over at Kimiko.

After a moment, she nodded, and waved a hand slightly.

"Go on. Practice for today is done anyways."

Koenma didn't miss Yusuke's startled look, and as he accepted Botan and Amber's help in getting to his feet, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd disappointed Kimiko in some manner. Kimiko simply walked over to the benches, picked up a towel she'd left there, and walked out of the room, absently draping it over her shoulders; after a minute, her brother followed.

"I'm sorry sir," Botan said anxiously as they headed for the benches as well. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," he said, trying to give her a reassuring smile. It was more a grimace, but he tried. "You hit a lot harder than I thought..."

Amber snickered as he sank onto a bench, rubbing his stomach with a wince. Botan flushed, and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

"That's what you get for not paying attention," the fire demon said, but her tone was practical, not judgmental. "You can't be thinking on other things when you spar, m'lord. You have to be _in_ the fight, in the moment, or all you're going to do is get yourself further hurt."

"...how can I focus on this fight when it's the _coming_ one that's got everyone's attention?" he asked after a moment.

Botan's pensive expression grew even more-so, and she looked down at the floor even as she took a drink of water. Amber just shrugged lightly.

"Given that you've been doing everything you can to avoid looking, the fact that you're now hyper-focused is your own fault," she said with a distinct lack of sympathy. "You can't bury your head in the sand and pretend nothing is happening. You've known for months that something would."

It stung almost as much as Kimiko's palpable disappointment, and he ducked his head a little, taking a drink of water to try and cover the fact. He couldn't deny that she was right, but it was a lot more complicated than that.

Wasn't it?

* * *

"So, why'd you cut practice?" Yusuke demanded once they were down the hall.

"There's no point if all he's going to do it be distracted enough to get a dented skull," Kimiko replied. "Might as well let him have time to think on what he's been ignoring. Maybe it'll sink in that he's got to do more than be passive in this situation."

"And what if it doesn't?"

She shrugged lightly.

"Reikai's gong to pick a fight no matter what we do. If Enma doesn't back the fuck off, I am willing to bring the fight to him."

It surprised him enough to make him stumble; Kimiko wasn't a pacifist by any stretch of the word, but her preference was diplomacy. Talking over fighting. Then again, considering she had almost been made a prisoner for the second time in her life, he could kind of understand why she'd want to have the ensuring fight on her terms.

Plus, taking the fight _to_ Reikai would keep it out of Ningenkai, and away from the humans that would be nothing more than collateral damage when they got caught between. That was definitely something _he_ wanted to avoid, since he was one hundred percent aware that his own friends would get caught up in the fighting.

Idiot Kuwabara couldn't stay _out_ of a fight to save his ass, after all.

"Hey, so what happens if you do that and win?"

Kimiko stopped, and blinked at him.

"Come again?"

"I mean, if you, if we, raise this huge fuck off army, beat Enma's army to a pulp, and punt his corrupt ass off his throne, what then? Like, if pacifier breath doesn't step up and all?"

"...There's a few options in the upper echelons of Reikai society that aren't terrible," she said slowly, eyeing him suspiciously. "Why, what're you thinking?"

"...it'd be kind funny is all."

"Yusuke..."

Yusuke grinned a little, lacing his hands behind his head.

"I mean, if we're gonna go, might as well take it all, right?"

Kimiko stared at him for a full thirty seconds before palming her face, then reached out and swatted at him. Given that he'd anticipated it, he leaned back just enough so that she missed.

"We are _not_ in this to take control of Reikai," she said forbodingly, amethyst-colored eyes narrowing. "Either Koenma steps up, or we find out who among Reikai would do a better job. _Not_ us. What in the world made you even _consider_ that?"

"Well, I mean, it's not like Pops is interested in retiring."

"You don't even like paperwork," she pointed out. "Informal as Father is, there's still plenty of it, and Reikai is the middle ground between life and death. I really, _really_ doubt you'd like being in charge of that. I sure as hell am not interested; I get stuck doing _your_ paperwork all the time as it is!"

"All right, all right, chill, it was just a joke!"

Well, it had mostly been a joke. Sure, _he_ didn't want to rule Reikai, or even Tourin. But he could picture Kimiko and Kurama making a go at Reikai and not doing too terribly...

Speaking of...

"So, where's foxy?"

Kimiko rolled her eyes in tolerant exasperation; Yusuke only smirked. It was _fun_ picking on her.

"Making contact with his earthwalker, I assume. Why?"

"Well, didn't he wanna go to Ningenkai? Have you talked to Pops about that?"

"Yes and yes. Father is very insistent than you come too."

Not really surprising, and Yusuke only shrugged slightly in agreement. Things just worked better when they stuck together.

"I'd like to do it soon, now that we've got permission," she continued. "Preferably before any of the projects decide they don't want to be juggled any more. Do you want to start with the Kuwabaras?"

"Hell yeah. Haven't seen that idiot in months!"

"Okay. You need to go tell Yukina then, and Tensei. Once Kurama gets back and knows more about whether or not his earthwalker will talk to him, we can figure out where to go from there."

"Yeah yeah yeah. You and detail," he scoffed.

This time he let her punch him lightly in the shoulder.

" _Someone_ has to be," she said tartly.

"Better you than me~"

"Remind me to drown you later."

He grinned and gave her a quick, one-armed hug before leaving her at her rooms and heading for his own.

* * *

"You look rather... out of sorts."

Koenma glanced up from the window he'd been staring out of, not sure if he was annoyed or glad to have someone else to talk too. Kurama, at least, could be trusted to be a fairly calm presence, who would offer informed opinions only.

"That's probably an understatement," he replied propping his elbow on his knee so he could put his chin in his hand. "I'm trying not to whine about it, though."

Kurama's chuckle was soft, as was the sound of him sitting in the nearby chair.

"I didn't expect that Kimiko would be pushing you about making a choice. She seemed very reluctant to force the issue."

"Huh? Oh, no, she hasn't said anything directly... Which is probably the weirdest part, since no doubt she really wants too," and he couldn't help cracking a half smile. "Amber did, though, and I hate admitting it, but I guess she is right. I haven't wanted to see, so I haven't seen."

"Kimiko thought it better to not thrust the fact that we are well aware of King Enma's movements in your face before you have a chance to regain your balance," Kurama replied. "As much as she can, she has been allowing your ignorance. Even when it annoyed her to no end, which, it has."

Koenma sighed a little, running a hand over his hair.

"I know. I still don't know what to do, though. I've thought about ruling Reikai, sure, but those thoughts were always some... nebulous distance and time away. Maybe if I'd gained the size of my father, for example... I just don't feel ready."

"In a situation like this, it's rare that such a thing happens," Kurama replied after a long moment. "But someone must step up to take King Enma's place; as his son, you are the logical successor, which lends itself to a share of both problems and advantages."

"Like who's going to follow a kid?"

He glanced over in time to see Kurama acknowledge that with a slight nod.

"Among other things. Some apparitions think you are as much to blame as your father for not seeing what was happening sooner. Others will try to influence you by claiming they know more because of their age. You may even find yourself relying more on the denizens of Makai than Reikai in the event that a hostile takeover succeeds."

Koenma grimaced a little then sighed, leaning back a little more against the wall.

"And there's always politics, internal strife, no doubt the office is in absolute shambles, and even if I make it back to Reikai, as a ruler, I wouldn't have the time to oversee it any longer."

Kurama's eyes flicked slightly to the side, the only warning he gave before Kimiko joined the conversation, having approached from a different angle.

"Do spirits really _need_ that oversight, though?" she asked pointedly. "Even before Reikai settled, they seemed to find their way to the places they belonged. You've only been passing judgment on them for... what... sixty years?"

"...sixty-five," Koenma replied, ducking his head a little.

No matter that she was younger than him, she still seemed to have that... vibe of an older sibling. Or at least, that was what it felt like. He would have said motherly, except she was decidedly not that... and he couldn't remember anything about who his mother might have been either.

"Did anyone have the job before you?"

"I... I think my father did?" he said hesitantly. "It's... just the job I was given once I was old enough to understand that all the being filtering through the halls were souls of humans."

"King Enma's rule has only been for the past three centuries," Kurama supplied, clearly anticipating Kimiko's next question. The tiny smile she flashed him gave that much away. "Before that, there are few enough records, but I gather it wasn't a very stable land."

"The point is, Koenma, souls did fine before you arrived, and it's not the souls of the dead that you should be worrying about right now anyways."

"You're not being asked to take over a shaky leadership, in what's potentially a hotbed of hostile territory," he accused.

Instead of being annoyed, Kimiko half-smiled wryly.

"No, I'm not. And frankly, if I was in your shoes, I'd be just as reluctant about the idea as you are. Believe it or not, you _do_ have a choice, Koenma. Botan and I have been busting ass to give you that. Or did you think the only messages I had her run were to the people watching the crater zone?"

Koenma blinked a little, and flushed a little as he realized he had been paying as little attention as he could get away with to outside information. Amusement lit Kimiko's face, along with resignation.

"Botan's been making forays into Reikai for me. Sounding out both the rebellion leaders, and the nobility as much as is safe. There's a small list of people who could step into Enma's shoes if we need them. We'd _like_ it to be you, since you're the one who wanted the peace between the realms, but as long as I have someone who's not going to attack Ningenkai and blame _us_ , if you don't want to rule, you're not going to be forced to it. If you want to stay in Makai, keep learning to fight, eventually go carve out your own territory, by all means, you can do that."

She was sincere, but he could hear under her words; sure, he could do that, learn to fight, bring people under his banner and make a territory either in, or near Tourin of his very own... but she would be disappointed in him if he did things like that.

And he would be disappointed in himself.

"How... do you know what to do?" he asked after a long moment. "To make a choice like this?"

"Do you want more people to die, just so King Enma can justify trying to take control over Makai?" she countered. "Koenma, I respect that your relationship with him is complicated and convoluted, but Yusuke's right; in a situation like this, the answer is plain."

It was. He just didn't want to acknowledge it. He _did not_ want to go up against his father.

She sighed, and lightly rested a hand on his shoulder.

"No practice for a while. Take your time and think about what _you_ want. When you've decided, I won't be far away."

She squeezed his shoulder slightly, then turned and tipped her had at Kurama. The redhead nodded, cast Koenma a sympathetic look of his own, then rose and followed her out of the library.

* * *

"...do you think I was too harsh?" she asked in a tiny voice.

"I think Koenma will realize that practice has only been allowing him to not focus, and he won't know what to do with his free time," Kurama replied, loosely wrapping his arms around Kimiko. "He may cast about for advice, but in the end, he will make the proper choice."

She sighed a little, curling into his hold so that she could read her head on his shoulder.

"Did you have any luck?"

"Possibly. My ally had a number of dead drops that may yet still be in use. I'll check back in a few days and see if they've checked any of them."

Kimiko nodded a little.

"Not long enough for the trip...?"

"I would certainly prefer to have this done before we visit Ningenkai and my family," he said with a small smile. "It would be rude to focus on something else."

"Mmm... I see your point. Yusuke said he'd come, and also that he'd like to see Kazuma, so it's likely that we'll be there for at least two weeks, if not more. To'o isn't enthused," and she smile wryly. "He says it's moved on to winter in Ningenkai."

"Well, that will be interesting. We might see snow in Heian-kyo, then."

It might also take them longer to walk to Edo, though that would depend more on if they were trying to keep things low-key or if they were just going to cut travel time by being themselves.

He nuzzled at her gently, smiling a little as she snuggled closer.

"...Kurama?"

"Mmm?"

She hesitated, and he got the sense that she was picking her words carefully. Given her blunt, occasionally harsh honesty, when she picked and chose her words, it meant that she was trying to say something specific, but also that she didn't want too much to be read _into_ what she was saying.

"This... is okay, isn't it?"

And sometimes it meant she didn't have the words to articulate, simply because some subjects got skipped over.

"This...?" he prompted.

She made a slight gesture, that encompassed them curled together on the couch, but not much else. Still not terribly _articulate_ , but he had a sense of what she was asking. Their relationship was still complicated, convoluted even with the honesty she required from him. But he thought they were getting somewhere, no matter how slow.

"I enjoy holding you," he said simply. "I can wait until you feel ready to ask for more."

Sex had been a sort of currency when he had been a proper demon. He had used it to get information, and also to earn those first brushes of Wish Blossom power that they hadn't understood. That she shied away from it now was hardly surprising, and he would certainly admit to plenty of human sentiment in wanting it to be the right moment.

Getting to curl up with her at night, when she was at her most vulnerable, was more than enough. Being trusted to help calm her after a nightmare threw her awake, being allowed to hold her close and know he was a source of comfort, not a source of anxiety... he would not have chosen to rush things if his life depended on it.

After a moment he pressed a light kiss to her temple, smoothing some of her hair back from her face when she didn't relax.

"Do you _want_ more?" he asked softly.

The silence grew thick as he watched her face intently. Kimiko was not bold unless she was angry, at which point it was best to usually just get out of her way. But the rest of the time she was actually fairly shy, with a strong tendency to watch, to learn before she stepped in. He liked that calm, quiet quality in her... except sometimes it held her back, and she needed gentle pushing to actually say what it was she wanted.

It felt rather like an eternity before she nodded a little, nervous, hopeful, possibly even a little wistful.

"Not... tonight," and he could hear the regret in her voice. "I have to talk to Father about it first, or he'll over-react, but... I... I think I'd... that is..."

She trailed off, a blush coating her cheeks, and he lightly kissed her forehead.

"When you are ready, I am here."


	2. Two

Two

Koenma hadn't realized how much training took up in his day until he no longer had to report to it. He'd actually tried, but Kimiko had firmly turned him away, which was somewhere between surprising and frustrating, especially since Botan and Momo—who had returned looking a little stronger than she had when she'd left—were there.

He didn't _want_ to think about the choice he needed to make. In truth, he wanted someone else to make them for him. He might wear the teenager form out of habit now, but he still felt more like an overgrown toddler than anything else.

And if he was being honest, there wasn't a choice to _be_ made. He knew the workings of Reikai better than anyone. He just didn't want to step up and try to challenge his father. Who in their right mind _would_? Enma was not just bigger than his son, he was centuries older, with a high level of energy that came with being the age he was. By comparison, Koenma was tiny, weak, and useless.

The most disconcerting thing was realizing that Amber had been pulled off watching him to help train Botan. He could have maybe used her as a sounding board, but she wasn't there to be asked. And that just left him alone with his uncomfortable thoughts, until he wanted to tear his own hair out.

Eventually, he retreated to his rooms so he could safely pop back into toddler form and throw the tantrum that had been building pretty much since the day before. It wasn't _fair_ , and he didn't _want_ to have to pick a side, and why couldn't everyone just _leave him alone?_

He hadn't exactly planned to fall asleep on the couch after, but it had been a very tiring tantrum.

When he woke, it was really only halfway, and it was to a pair of quiet, feminine voices; Amber and Botan. Had they come looking for him?

Oddly, that made him feel warm... and not so much like waking up the rest of the way. They had nice voices...

"-it just seems terribly unfair," Botan was saying. "I thought she wanted him to relax..."

"There's a difference between relaxing, and being willfully ignorant," Amber replied. "Lord Koenma's been doing the latter a lot more than the former. _You_ jumped at the chance to help us out, but he's still dragging his feet on the matter. I don't blame her for being a little annoyed."

Botan made a faint sound that suggested uncertainty. Koenma twitched a little as something soft settled over him; a blanket? And why were they discussing this? It wasn't like he hadn't been worrying about these things himself.

"He's still... just a child," Botan said, almost gingerly.

"Lord Yusuke and Lady Kimiko aren't more than forty. By our reckoning, they're both still children as well. Lord Koenma is at least twenty years older than them, but in many ways, acts much younger. Case, and form, in point."

He decided to roll over then, putting his face to the back of the couch so that she wouldn't catch on to him being awake by the way his face was heating.

"That's... not fair," Botan protested. "King Enma's had him doing important works for decades now. Deciding where spirits go after they're passed isn't easy!"

"I'm not saying it is," Amber replied. "I'm saying he's had every decision made _for_ him. But this one he has to make for himself, otherwise, it'll lose meaning. And pretending something's _not_ happening doesn't make it go away. It just makes it blow up when you're not ready for it."

"Oh..."

"...come on. We know where he is now, he's safe, and you need to get some rest of your own. Tomorrow's going to be hard enough without you skimping on your sleep."

As they left and their footsteps retreated down the hall, Koenma rolled onto his back and opened his eyes to stare up at the stone ceiling. Was Amber right? Was he waiting for Kimiko, Yusuke, or even Raizen to tell him to get in there and do something? He'd been unsatisfied with the conversation of the previous evening... was that part of the reason why?

Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes, and frowned down at the blanket instead as he considered the way his life had been led in Reikai. Endless rounds of paperwork that filled his days, the controlled chaos of the outer office where the ogres ran back and forth that took up most other hours, the rare visits outside of the office to various other denizens...

It had been an impulse decision, a rare one, that had brought him to Makai that first time. To meet Yusuke, Kimiko, Raizen, and try to negotiate what he thought of as a cease-fire agreement. Why had they let him think for so long that the aggression had been mutual?

Why had _he_ allowed himself to think that?

He sighed, and hugged one of the small pillows, wishing it could be a person. He'd never been big on physical contact before coming here, but now he thought he could really use a hug.

* * *

Amber-Ember did not often work in the room set aside for Lady Kimiko's practice; it was easier to work with fire and air outside than in most days. But this day, she wanted some privacy, some time to herself to contemplate the conundrum currently living in Tourin. With practice down to one session a day until Koenma made up his mind, it was the perfect spot to be alone.

Alone wasn't usually her preferred state of being; she was a social demon, who enjoyed bouncing her ideas off other people to get a clearer view. But she had already _done_ that; now she needed to organize her thoughts and make a decision.

She pulled little wisps of fire from her hair, organizing them absently before her as she contemplated a problem that was multi-faceted, if not actually too terribly complicated. In the greater whole—the actual threat of Reikai devastating Ningenkai to get at Makai—this was actually relatively small, but it had potential to cause problems.

She was coming to like the two Reikai beings a great deal more than was sensible.

Amber sighed as she started juggling fireballs; Botan was bright, cheerful, and tended to bound into things with a will and enthusiasm that matched Lord Yusuke, with the occasional pause for thought like Lady Kimiko. She had taken to the required training with a speed that was surprising considering her previously pacifistic impression, and she was just... _fun_. True, she probably wouldn't enjoy a swim in lava, but there was little doubts that Botan would be wholly enthusiastic for _Amber_ to enjoy it.

Then there was Koenma. He was confusing. Was he an adult, on par with Lady Kimiko and Lord Yusuke, or was he the toddler that he sometimes retreated to when things were simply overwhelming? He certainly seemed to act the same no matter the body he wore, but that wasn't necessarily a glowing review; his childish aspect was certainly not one she was inclined to encourage.

She shook her head a little, waves of flame licking her cheeks. Botan she didn't mind caring for; Botan was easy, straightforward, and affection came naturally. Koenma though, he was going to cause her some trouble. Not to mention he was currently tangled up in his own problems. Was affection, romance, even on his radar?

The fireballs all popped into a shower of sparks at a thought, as she finally decided that the only way she was going to know _anything_ was to ask. It was probably going to fluster all of them, but it would be beneficial to know. Especially since, having watched the convoluted tracks Lady Kimiko's relationship with Lord Kurama had taken, Amber-Ember knew the value of open communication.

Well, she could talk with Botan, at least. But perhaps it would be best to wait on Lord Koenma. Or maybe it would be best to say nothing to either? If Lord Koenma did decide to return to Reikai, to overthrow King Enma and rule in his place, would he _want_ her to be there?

Would she?

Amber muttered a little, batting a fireball at the wall to make a splashing scorch mark. Suddenly she understood much better why she caught the occasional grumble from Lady Kimiko about emotions being annoyingly complicated.

Well, she would have to start somewhere, wouldn't she? Admittedly, Botan made more sense, as she wasn't royal, and could technically do as she pleased.

The idea was a cheerful one, and Amber dismissed the flames she was playing with as she shifted back to a slightly less lethal form. Botan had to leave in the morning, but maybe they could come to some type of understanding before that?

At least it was worth trying.

* * *

...well, I like you too?" Botan said, confused. "I mean, we're friends..."

"No, no, not _that_ kind of liking. Though I do like you as a friend. Do.. apparitions not do romance?"

She stared, eyes going wide as Amber's blunt words made their point. She didn't just like her, she _liked_ her. Botan found herself blushing, and pressed her hands to her face, half-hiding behind them.

"Oh. Well. Ah... That is..."

Peering through her fingers, Botan could see a tiny, hopeful smile on Amber-Ember's face. It made her stomach do little flips, but whether that was because she liked Amber back or because she was nervous, she couldn't quite tell.

How _did_ she feel about the short fire demon? That was actually a fairly good question, one she hadn't considered too hard in the past few months. She liked Amber-Ember as a friend, of course, and definitely respected her ability as a fighter...

Pondering the question, she peeked again at her friend, and felt more heat climbing up her face. Maybe _that_ was why her stomach did some funny little flips before practice started; she'd been chalking it up to nerves, even after all this time because between Kimiko and Kurama, there were some very inventive practices and sparring matches.

Amber-Ember _was_ cute. She was the kind of cute that made people think she was harmless, even when her hair wasn't hair and was fire. She was brave, observant, and had a much more even temper than one might expect of someone who's nature was comprised of air and fire.

"...I don't know if I like you romantically," Botan finally said, feeling somewhat ashamed by this. "But I can try?"

Amber nodded slightly, and didn't look upset by Botan's words, which was comforting; it was always so hard to disappoint people...

"It's okay to need to think about it," and the fire demon gave her a quick grin. "I did kind of jump you with the information."

"It's going to make falling sleep interesting," Botan replied, not sure if she was teasing or being serious. "I might not do it at all!"

Sheepishly, Amber rubbed a finger over the tip of her nose, a gesture made suddenly more cute by the idea that it might be a slightly flirtatious gesture.

"Sorry?" she offered. "I just wanted to get it said before I talked myself out of it."

"...No offense meant, but... I thought you... might like Prince Koenma," Botan said after a halting moment.

Amber-Ember was quiet for a long moment, her expression unreadable. After a moment she tipped her head slightly.

"Don't you?"

The blush hit Botan full-force again, and she ducked her head, earning a small, soft laugh from the fire demon. In truth, Botan had been mulling that over before Amber had knocked; was it a crush, loyalty, some mix of the two? She felt _bad_ for him, and wanted to make things go more smoothly, but she didn't know precisely what it was she might be able to do that could be... well, _helpful_.

"I like you both, if not entirely in the same way," Amber said, amused resignation in her voice. "I'd like to be able to be with both of you at the same time, but I think Lord Koenma has enough on his mind right now, and whatever he chooses needs to be... mmm... free of external bias. Or at least as free as his decision can be."

Botan just blinked several times, then nodded slowly. It wasn't a terrible idea, just a little odd... and she could see the appeal, actually.

"Sort of like how... Jin, Momo, and Touya are?"

Again Amber's quick grin flashed across her face as she nodded.

"Or may yet be in the future; she spends more time in Ningenkai with her tree than she does here, learning to defend herself, so I can't really say what state their relationship is in," she added, lightly wiggling her head back and forth. "It is not a state for everyone, whatever their species, so I can understand it being a vaguely disconcerting idea."

 _Could_ she share like that and not have it be awkward?

"...I need to think about that too," Botan admitted.

"All right... Then I'll take my leave. Good luck on your trip."

This time there was a hint of disappointment, though it seemed quickly buried, and Botan tried not to wince as Amber left. She didn't like the idea of hurting the demon, but she couldn't lie to her either!

Blowing out a breath, she sank back onto her couch and propped her chin in her hands to think.

* * *

"So, how _are_ you going about meeting your earthwalker?" Kimiko asked as she flipped pages.

Kurama glanced up from his own work, offering a faint smile. Meeting in the library wasn't by design, but it was nice to spend time together, even working on separate projects as they were.

"You mean other than very carefully?"

Kimiko gave him a quick, narrow-eyed stare, which made him chuckle; it probably wasn't fair to tease her like this, but it was cute to watch her get huffy.

"Smartass. I'm serious."

"I know, I know. I left a note in the dead drops I could recall, all saying the same thing. I will meet them in seven days, at Kitare, in Coseir, the small bar at the north-east side of the palace perimeter."

Kitare was the kingdom he'd been granted for her rescue; a two day trip from Tourin palace even at his best speed. While they had visited when the official transfer of power had been completed—a mercifully short ceremony—Kurama had elected to stay with Kimiko in Tourin until she felt she was ready to live in Kitare with him... or they decided to go their separate ways.

"You're not going alone, are you?"

"I do not think Shats will come openly if I take a contingent of people with me," Kurama replied.

"You don't have to take a contingent. Just... one or two?"

In her own way, Kimiko was as paranoid as her father. She was just more restrained about trying to make sure people were safe. Where Raizen would drop a full squad on those he was looking out for, she preferred quality over quantity. One or two powerful people, instead of a dozen of lesser strength.

So her request wasn't too unreasonable, and it _was_ Makai. People would take note of the human body, the different type of energy, and there were usually two schools of thought about those who had low power; they either were, or they weren't.

"...I believe Hiei would be a good companion," he said after a thoughtful moment. "His past history with banditry could be beneficial."

As could his Jagan, if mind-reading became necessary. He hoped it wouldn't, but there was that potential. It had been a long time since he'd had word of any of his old gang, and though he suspected it was the Yomi he had once known who was carving out a territory outside of Tourin, he hadn't yet tried to confirm it. What would be the point? He and Yomi had ended on a fairly bad note, all things considered, and if this was how his former second chose to continue his life, well, so be it.

"He's probably bored enough to agree," Kimiko said after a thoughtful moment, and he saw her shoulders relax slightly. "Yusuke doesn't have any outings planned until we make it to Ningenkai, and when we go there, he needs to behave. Here, he can probably pick a fight at need."

"Hopefully it won't _be_ a need," Kurama said wryly. "I only want to talk to Shats, not cause them trouble."

"Then definitely _don't_ take Yusuke."

He laughed softly, and leaned over to lightly kiss her temple.

"As good a friend as he is, that would indeed cause me more problems than are required in the moment," he said as she blushed a little.

"You left the notes... yesterday? So you'll have to leave soon, then, if you want to make it to Kitare on time."

Kurama nodded.

"I will speak to Hiei tonight, and if he is amenable, it would doubtless be beneficial to leave in the morning." Then, catching a glimpse of her expression, he amended, "Or the day after."

"It's probably better to go sooner instead of putting it off," she said, frowning a little, even as she looked down at her papers. "You'll have time to settle in, and be ready for anything."

He reached over, and covered her hand with his, squeezing lightly when she glanced up at him in surprise.

"Another day wouldn't put me too far behind," he said gently. "Especially not if it was spent with you."

Now she really _did_ blush, ducking her head to let her hair fall over her face and hide her reaction, though she didn't try to pull her hand from his. Kurama stifled a chuckle at how _easy_ it was to fluster her, and scooted his chair closer so that he could tip her head up for a kiss.

It was hard to pull back, let the kiss end, but he did after a few moments, wishing and wanting in equal measure. Kimiko's fingers at the collar of his kimono suggested she didn't want him to go very far either... but this was the library; if they were not discreet, anyone could interrupt them, and that would be embarrassing to all parties.

Still, he took a moment to lightly press his forehead against hers, nuzzling lightly.

"...Kurama?"

"Mmm?"

"If you're going to leave in the morning... will you be with me tonight?"

The plans for leaving in the morning were nebulous at best—he still would have to talk to Hiei, and the day itself was ending soon—but he had to admit that the sooner he left, the sooner he would return.

"I would be happy to stay tonight," he said softly.

To his surprise she shook her head a little.

"No, _be_ with me tonight."

His heart jumped just slightly, and he blinked in surprise.

"...Kimiko?"

She smiled a little, timid, shy, hopeful.

"Call it.. incentive to come home?"

He blinked again, then chuckled a little and kissed her nose, making her squeak.

"You are that already," he said affectionately. "But if you desire it, I would be more than willing to be with you tonight."

Her tiny, shy nod was more than enough reason to lean in and give her another proper kiss.

* * *

Kimiko was not the type to flutter around after making a decision; she had mentioned as casually as she could to Raizen that she was taking the next step with Kurama, and while he had stayed silent for a long few minutes, he had eventually agreed that as long as she didn't feel pressured, that was her right.

She didn't feel pressured. Worried, maybe, nervous... she was going to miss Kurama when he was gone, even knowing he wouldn't be away _that_ long. But not pressured. Kurama had gone out of his way to make her feel comfortable and relaxed, and she knew he would continue this streak of thoughtfulness, even if she backed out at the last minute.

It made her wonder how different things might have been if he'd survived Satori's attack, if she'd been able to heal him, protect him until her father and brother had arrived. Where would they be now?

After a moment she dismissed the thought; there was no point in what ifs now. He wore a different body, and had a more thoughtful manner, but he was still Kurama.

And she was starting to think that she very well might be properly in love with him. While not quite ready to tell him yet, the idea wasn't terribly discomforting; that was the purpose behind allowing him to court her, after all. They were finding the steps of the dance together, and if they stumbled sometimes, well... it was a learning process.

Kimiko smiled a little at the fanciful way her thoughts had turned; a mix of practical and romantic, maybe?

She had initially thought that it might be fun to wear something fancy, up until she remembered that her fancy clothes were several layers deep, and took an obnoxiously long time—and at least three extra hands—to get into. Seemed pointless, when the whole idea was to get _out_ of the clothes. At the same time, she wasn't _quite_ bold enough to not wear anything to meet him either.

This time she laughed at herself, and flopped backwards onto her sitting area couch; maybe she was less nervous than she'd thought, and more giddy...

Kurama arrived after only a handful of minutes more, looking satisfied, and joined her on the couch after closing the door. She made a mental note to lock it before they got too involved; Yusuke still had this habit of just barging on in whenever he wanted, and she would rather they _not_ get interrupted if it could be avoided.

"Hiei has agreed that it could be a worthwhile endeavor, and that we should leave in the morning," he said, sliding an arm around her shoulders as she shifted to lean against him. "He claims it's so that he can scout the area to ensure that no one lays a trap; I believe he's just as bored as you predicted."

"At least when he's bored he trains on his own?" Kimiko offered, snuggling against him. "Yuu just picks fights."

"For your brother, that _is_ training."

She grinned, unable to deny that.

"Especially when he picks a fight with Father," she agreed, shaking her head a little.

She felt more than heard the chuckle, and tucked her head a little more against his shoulder. Oh, she was going to _miss_ him while he was away... But if he left soon, hopefully he could return soon too.

As if sensing the direction her thoughts had shifted, he squeezed her shoulder lightly, and his fingers lightly stroked her cheek as he tucked some of her hair behind one ear.

"It shouldn't be more than two weeks," he said softly.

"I know. It's just... going to seem longer," and she smiled ruefully. "In case you failed to notice, I have attachment issues. If I could, I'd... come with you."

"It is not terribly surprising," and she could hear the warm, teasing note in his voice as he very gently poked her. "It will be long for me as well. But you need to remain her to coordinate, and I must go to see if we can get some help in spying. Koenma will talk to you more than anyone else here, at that."

She couldn't refute his points, but she kind of wish she could. Going with him instead of being parted would have been a nice alternative. After a moment she just sighed a little, and loosely wrapped her own arms around him. Daytime would be difficult, but it was the nights that would undoubtedly be the worst.

He nuzzled her lightly, kissing her forehead in a way that produced a soft warmth; no Blossom power, just... warmth. The feeling that she was protected, cared for, wanted.

So after a moment she shifted, leaned in, and pressed a light kiss to his mouth. He kissed back just as softly, hand tightening slightly on her shoulder. Then, when she failed to pull back, he shifted slightly so that one hand lightly cupped the back of her head, while the other traced lightly down her back.

Kimiko's hear jumped slightly; a little bit of nerves, but mostly anticipation. Yes. She wanted this, wanted him. _All_ of him.

Kurama pulled back just slightly, just enough for her to feel the brush of his lips against hers as he spoke.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes."

Warmth in his eyes, desire that was still a little scary, but was tempered by affection.

"How would you care to go about it?"

Reluctantly she pulled back a little more, though she couldn't resist another quick kiss.

"I have to make sure the door is locked first," she said apologetically as Kurama raised a curious eyebrow. "Yusuke the Mad Barger and all..."

He laughed softly in understanding as she slipped out of his hold briefly, and went to go lock the door. As an added measure, she triggered a ward she didn't often use; anyone who tried to _pick_ the lock would get a nasty shock. If nothing else, it would convince anyone who wanted to interrupt that it was better to wait and return later.

So maybe she was a _bit_ paranoid about getting interrupted... Better to be safe than sorry.

Kurama watched her fondly as she fiddled with the door, trying to calm his rising desires. He had assumed she might just want to retreat immediately to the bedroom, but this held much more intriguing implications.

Implications he was trying to avoid reading into, because what if he was wrong? He certainly wouldn't mind starting here and working to the bed... Was that what she wanted?It had been long enough for both of them that a drawn out session could be well worth the effort, and not sleeping for a while wouldn't bother _him_.

He made himself stay still on the couch, tempting though it was to slide up on her and press a kiss to the side of her neck; she'd probably react first and think second, and that wouldn't end well for either of them. He'd sparred with her enough to know that she was _much_ stronger than she had been, after all.

His patience was rewarded when she made a faintly satisfied sound and returned to him. She looked... not _eager_ , but not nervous either, he decided, and she stood indecisively for only a moment before carefully easing onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her close, kissing her as her own arms draped around his shoulders.

Whatever happened... it was going to be their night.

* * *

 _Smut vers on AO3_


	3. Three

Three

"...how do you know what choice is the right one?"

Kimiko looked up from her desk, surprised by the unexpected voice. It had been a few days since Kurama had left to talk to his earthwalker, and she was burying herself in other work, trying to ignore how much she missed him.

 _Stars,_ but she missed him. And not just because she'd had a nightmare either...

Koenma, in toddler form, stood in the doorway, looking rather like _he_ hadn't slept well for the past several days either. Lost and vulnerable, the expression of someone with too much on their mind. It looked so out of place on a child's face that she almost wished he'd taken the effort to be in his adult form.

But it wasn't the adult that needed comforting, was it?

She gestured him in, and led him over to her purple divan; when he climbed up onto it, she draped the blanket he'd dragged with him around his shoulders.

"Most of the time I seek out the opinions of the people around me," she said after a moment. "If I'm especially confused, I'll start with Father. He does have that gift of distilling a problem down to its most basic component. Yusuke does to, but he's not as... helpful with talking. I talk to the people who might have ideas, or be able to give insight, I'll take their opinions in and use those as places to start building my own."

"Even when an issues appears... simple?"

She snorted.

"The ones that appear simple are usually the ones that give me the most grief," she said a little sourly. "Even simple issues have their layers to untangle. Just ask Kurama."

"But you all seem to think this choice _is_ simple..."

"For _us_ it's simple," she corrected gently, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We're protecting and defending people that can't protect themselves. For you, it's complicated. Your relationship with King Enma _itself_ is a complication, never mind what has to be done."

He was quiet for a long moment, clutching the blanket tightly around himself. Kimiko studied him for a moment, then looked away. She wasn't sure the words she was offering would help, but she did understand, to a small extent, what he was going through.

"I'm no more used to having to make my own choice than you are," she said finally. "I spent the first half of my life with no way to make them. I second-guess myself all the time... even when I decided that I was just going to go to Reikai without Father's permission, I kept wondering if I was doing the right thing. I did it anyways, simply because it needed to be done... Not exactly what I would call my _best_ idea, but it worked out in ways that no one could have expected or anticipated."

It certainly had gotten them information on what King Enma's true goals had been. Information that only a few people had been privy to, and they might not have seen for years otherwise, but that had not been the net goal of the original plan. And though she hadn't admitted it to anyone, almost being made a prisoner again had been _terrifying_.

But years with her father and Yusuke had made her able to turn fear to anger, and anger into energy. It didn't make her any _less_ afraid, but it gave her something to use, instead of something that froze her.

"Koenma, you're not alone here," she continued, squeezing his shoulder lightly. "And whatever choice you make, even if I _don't_ agree with it, I'll support you in it. You're my friend, and this is a hard thing to ask of you. I get that. But I can't make the choice for you."

"Because it has to be my choice..."

The words were almost bitter, and she half-smiled in sympathy.

"Because you have to _commit,_ " she corrected. "That's the thing about decisions; once you make them, you have to own them. Whether right or wrong, it's the commitment and the following through that makes it your own. And it's _scary_ , I know. Sometimes it's a weight, a burden... but sometimes, making the choice, whatever it is, can be the most freeing thing you've ever done."

He looked up at her uncertainly, and she couldn't help the crooked smile.

"You don't know until you decide."

"But what can _I_ do that's any different?" he asked.

"You can be you," she replied simply. "Just... be _Koenma._ "

His lower lip came out slightly in a pout, and she tried not to laugh; he looked very much like Tensei when he did that, never mind the difference in species.

"How do I do _that_?" he asked after a long, perplexed minute.

"Well, I don't know how you be you," Kimiko replied with a small grin. "I have a hard enough time figuring out how to be _me_ , after all."

"But... what if I'm a bad ruler? What if I just make things worse?"

"I fail to see how you could make things _worse_ , Koenma," she chided lightly. "I mean, _you_ don't plan on kidnapping lower-strength demons and brainwashing them into causing trouble in Ningenkai, do you?"

"No!"

He looked so outraged at the idea that she had to stifle a laugh.

"Everyone fumbles and fails at things. You should have seen me when I first decided that I wanted to keep going instead of letting what happened hold me back," she said wryly. "I'd only ever used my energy in small bits, and yet now.."

She waved her free hand lightly, and tiny sparks of lavender light danced along her fingertips; a trick now, a skill learned after several years of effort, trial and error, but something that had defeated her when she'd first started.

"I didn't start out knowing how to be much of anything. I fell down, I had energy blasts go off in my face, I made friends with the walls, the floor, you name it. You're not always going to have success on the first try. Maybe you'll fail this time, but that's okay. You've got us. We'll help you."

Kimiko smiled down at him; it was a little weird giving a pep-talk to her friend when he looked like a toddler, but as she'd already realized, it wasn't the adult side of him that needed bolstering. It was the child, the one he'd never really been allowed to be.

"Even if I'm not sure I want to be king of Reikai?"

"Even if you don't want to be king of Reikai," she nodded a little. "It'll be more difficult, but we can make it work, Koenma."

He sat there quietly for several minutes, fidgeting with the blanket and not looking at anything in particular.

"But you guys _want_ me to be the king," he finally said.

"...well, yes. It'll make things easier. But that's what we want. This isn't about what _we_ want. It's about what _you_ want."

He was quiet for so long that she started to wonder if she'd offended him, but when he glanced up, she got the sense that there was something very _different_ on his mind.

"Promise not to laugh at me?"

"...well, I promise to try," she offered.

That seemed to be good enough, because he flushed a little and ducked his head slightly, mumbling something that she wasn't quite sure she heard properly.

"...you have a crush on _who_?"

"Amber-Ember and Botan..."

It was her turn to be silent for several minutes; of all the topics he might have brought up, this was _decidedly_ not one she'd expected. It had almost nothing to do with what she _thought_ they'd been discussing... part of her wanted to be annoyed, while the rest of her couldn't _help_ but be amused.

"And you're telling me because...?"

"Well... I don't... that is...What do I _say_?"

She tried, really she did, to not giggle, but eventually gave it up as a lost cause.

"Koenma, you are asking the _wrong_ person," she said once she could breathe again. "Kurama came to _me_ , and most of what I've done is figure out where the boundaries of the relationship are. Just... be honest. If you like both of them _tell_ both of them, and let them decide how they feel. You could end up in a relationship like Momo, Jin, and Touya, you could end with only having one like you back, or neither. But at least you'll _know_."

He looked grumpily embarrassed, and she couldn't help but give him a hug. She was fairly sure she knew which way Amber would slide, but Botan? Admittedly, she hadn't thought too much about _that_.

"You said you wouldn't laugh," he grumbled.

"I said I'd _try_."

He pouted, but she noticed he didn't try to get out of the hug. It made her shake her head a little, more amused than anything else.

"...can I continue practice?" he asked after a minute.

"Have you made up your mind?"

"I... think so. Maybe..."

She raised an eyebrow and he sighed a little.

"Can I avoid saying it for a little bit longer?" he asked wistfully.

She studied him for a moment more, pursing her lips, then half-shrugged; she wasn't going to force the issue right now. There was still time.

"Well, all right. You _do_ need all the practice you can get. And also, from the look of you right now, sleep."

He blinked, then, as if triggered by her comment, yawned.

"I suppose I should..."

"You can stay," and she grinned a little at his surprised look. "No point in straining yourself to be an adult when you look like you're going to fall over. Amber would be upset."

Watching him color, then glare, made her grin widen. Oh, maybe it wasn't the nicest thing, but teasing him about it would be amusing for _months_. Still, when she got up, he did curl up on the divan, pulling the blanket over his head. In the few moments it took her to get back to her desk, she could hear him starting to snore, just slightly.

Kimiko shook her head, snickered a little, and went back to work plotting the information that Botan had brought. At least she would have something amusing to tell Kurama when he finally came back to her.

* * *

"...you don't _look_ like Kurama," the digger demon said, eyeing him suspiciously.

"An unfortunate accident," Kurama shrugged lightly. "I was required to obtain a new body."

Shats didn't entirely look convinced, but other than trading coded words and signs, there wasn't really any way to convince them. Kurama tried not to be impatient with the demon; he didn't want to waste time in this, and it wasn't _their_ fault he'd come back somewhat different.

Instead, Kurama took a position that the digger would recognize, one he had often sat in while listening to his people bring their various reports. Shats sat back slightly, but it wasn't hard to watch the clicking and ticking of the demon's thought process.

"...what do you want?" they finally asked warily.

"There is a task for you, and any other earthwalkers like you," Kurama replied. "Listening in Ningenkai, and potentially Reikai, if anyone is bold enough."

"Spying on Reikai?" Shats' eyes widened somewhat. "What for?"

"To keep an upper hand in the coming conflict. Reikai is pushing for war. Raizen's children wish to permanently table the option."

As little information as he could give, without giving away the plan. Word would spread, of course, he couldn't stop that, but he could at least _try_ to limit what was said.

"...I need time to gather folk," Shats said after a long minute.

"Report back in three days," Kurama said coolly. "With, or without a consensus."

"Yeah, boss."

The ingrained response had Kurama stifle a smile as Shats looked surprised, then annoyed. Then, reluctantly, amused.

"Guess you _are_ the boss."

"Indeed. Three days. Here. Same time."

Shats saluted slightly, then headed out of the bar, appearing ignorant of the small seeds now speckled in amongst the rocks on their back.

"That was too easy," Hiei said, leaning on the table.

"Probably," Kurama shrugged lightly. "No doubt Shats reports to someone else now. Possibly Yomi, assuming he survived the events at the tower."

"That could be a problem."

He couldn't deny that, and only shrugged slightly. He had taken this route in the event that it might prove most fruitful, but if it didn't, there were other ways to get the information they needed.

"If trouble comes, it will be dealt with," he said after a moment. "For now, we have three days to prepare for an ambush."

Hiei snorted a little.

"If they're _that_ stupid, we should just kill them and be done with it."

"Patience, Hiei. We may be pleasantly surprised."

Hiei just stared at him for a long moment, in a manner that plainly indicated he thought Kurama was being painfully optimistic. Kurama only spread his hands slightly and shrugged; Shats hadn't let him down when they worked for him in the past, and while there might be a conflict of loyalty, he was _fairly_ sure they wouldn't risk letting him down this time.

"Come, since we've nothing else to do here, we may as well return to the palace."

Hiei nodded a little curtly and they headed out of the bar, making their way through quiet streets until they reached the corner gate that would allow them entrance to the Kitare palace.

It wasn't as big as Tourin, but then, Tourin was set into the mountainside, and frankly, _nothing_ was bigger than that. The outer wall was at least ten feet thick and forty high, and if it wasn't patrolled well just yet, Kurama hadn't exactly been in residence long enough for it to be a concern. Didn't plan to _be_ in residence for a while yet, so imperfect patrolling was better than none at all, at least until he'd gotten a chance to seed the walls properly.

Within the walls was a sprawling home, built in the style of a Nippon manor. The main house occupied the center, where the most light fell; already Kurama had seeded a riot of plants along its walls and paths that would alert him of any intruders. A stable—dilapidated and in moderate disrepair—hugged the north wall, while a large training hall was tucked along the east.

Eventually, it would be a good place to live; at the moment, it was just a place to stay, rest, and plan in while waiting. Three days was probably not long enough to gather many other diggers, but Kurama knew that word would spread; the speed at which information crossed Tourin was impressive, even if the information did tend to get a bit... distorted.

"That place will get broken if a fight starts there," Hiei said abruptly.

"Yes. That' why it makes a good meeting place," Kurama replied.

"An ambush along the path, then?"

Kurama's smile was thin; moss and mushrooms didn't need a great amount of light to grow, and he would know if more people gathered in alleys and back paths in a bid to attack him.

"We shall see."

* * *

Koenma almost regretted asking to be brought back into practice. With Kurama away, Yusuke had been brought in, and Yusuke didn't really know _how_ to pull his blows. On the one hand, it could be argued that this was beneficial; being toughened up wasn't all that bad. On the other, _getting_ toughened up hurt like hell. Nothing was broken, but he was pretty sure he was going to feel the bruises for _days_.

But he was, at least, doing better at keeping his mind focused on the fighting, and not on the worrying problems. He was also trying to keep from watching Amber-Ember as she worked Momo through what looked to be a rigorous blocking exercise. With Botan still away—and he rather missed the cheery optimism of the spirit guide—Kimiko was doing more watching and instructing than actual sparring.

He pulled his attention back in time to block a high kick from Yusuke that sent him skidding backwards, and sent a warning twinge up his arm. Forced to duck under the next attack, Koenma back-pedaled further, waving a hand in obvious surrender as he pulled the other arm to his chest protectively.

Yusuke dropped out of stance with a slight scowl.

"Ah, c'mon, I didn't hit you _that_ hard," he complained.

"Hard enough," Koenma retorted, panting for breath. "Are you _trying_ to break something indirectly?"

"Dude, if I wanted to break something, it'd be broken," Yusuke informed him.

"Not for lack of _trying_..."

Koenma rubbed his arm with a wince, pulling up the sleeve; already there was a bruise forming, far wider than the kick should have allowed.

"If you'd actually channel your energy instead of storing it in that pacifier, you wouldn't get hurt so much," Yusuke snapped.

"Some of us actually have plans for energy," Koenma retorted, even as he turned to see where Kimiko was.

"Yeah well, those plans'll probably get you killed," Yusuke shot back. "At least if you used your energy to _protect_ yourself-"

" _Boys_ ," Kimiko said reprovingly as she came over. "What's the arguing about now?"

"Drama prince is whining cause his block was sloppy," Yusuke complained.

"I am not!"

She sighed and muttered something under her breath that sounded decidedly uncomplimentary, then pressed her palm lightly to the arm Koenma was trying to protect. He yelped a little in protest at the firmness of her grip, then sighed slightly as coolness eased the pain.

"Yusuke, I swear," she said crossly. " _Pull_ your blows, or I'll get Touya in here instead!"

"Ah, c'mon, I didn't hit _that_ hard!"

"It was hard enough," she retorted, frowning over at her brother. "If you'd actually connected with his head, that would be a problem!"

Yusuke grumbled something that _almost_ sounded repentant, but not quite. Kimiko responded by kicking him in the shin, which made him yelp and bounce backwards.

"Don't be such an ass, Yuu," she warned, releasing Koenma's arm. "I'm serious."

The numb cool feeling took a few more moments to wear off, and Koenma shook his arm out carefully when it did; at least he'd been right to call off the 'spar' and get her attention...

"Five minute break for you," she said, looking up at him. "Let the healing set, otherwise that arm really _will_ snap."

Koenma shuddered in a manner not even remotely theatrical; while he was reasonably sure that she could—and would—heal any breaks gained from training, avoiding that fate seemed like a good plan. For a moment her serious expression lightened into a wry smile, and she patted his shoulder, then turned to check on Amber and Momo while he made his way to the side for some water and a chance to sit down. Yusuke snorted a little, and went to lean on a wall, feigning boredom.

Koenma flexed his hand carefully, sipping at the water slowly as he watched her interrupt the pair, moving to correct Momo on something. Amber stepped back with a slightly chagrined look, and he couldn't help a tiny smile; milder than Yusuke, she still had a tendency to get caught up in the match and forget that she was supposed to be instructing.

Momo looked worn out, but nodded after a moment, and reset her position; Kimiko waved Amber off, and started with minor corrections as the fire demon wandered over to him, grabbing a towel on the way to pat herself down.

"She's really quite good at this," Amber said idly, sounding a little sheepish. "Much better than Lord Yusuke, anyways."

Koenma smiled wryly, nodding a little.

"Yusuke's not patient enough," Touya said quietly from where he was sitting behind them.

Having forgotten he was there, despite Kimiko's words moments ago, Koenma jumped. Amber giggled at the reaction, then nodded.

"This is true. Lord Yusuke is many things, but patient is not one of them."

"I'll say," Koenma grumbled a little, half-turning to scowl at the former shinobi, who only offered a slight, smug smile. "Sometimes I think he _likes_ beating me up."

"Probably," and Touya offered a faint shrug to go with the smile. "He seems to like fighting for the sake of it."

Well, that much certainly couldn't be argued; from what Koenma had seen, Yusuke seemed to _thrive_ on challenging people stronger than he was. Watching him spare with Raizen was really kind of terrifying...

"Lord Raizen trained Lord Yusuke from a young age,"Amber said quietly. "While no one knew why Lady Kimiko had been kidnapped, we all knew that it was likely to be Lord Yusuke that would bring her back. The entire story is, of course, much more convoluted than that, but he did manage to bring her home in the end."

Silence fell briefly, and they watched as Kimiko brought Momo through a short kata, stopping her every few moments for minor adjustments, talking quietly the whole while.

"...Momo's getting frustrated," Touya observed. "She doesn't much like even needing to know self defense, but she can't imagine living anywhere else."

"Given what was discovered, it's kind of shocking that Raizen agreed to let her stay," Koenma said, wincing a little as Momo wobbled precariously.

Of everyone who'd been required to learn, she was definitely the least inclined towards it. The chubby plum spirit certainly _tried_ , but she also resisted having _to_ try. It was interesting to see, even as it made life difficult for her, and Koenma felt more than mildly sympathetic towards her particular plight. He didn't really enjoy learning to fight either...

"Lady Kimiko insisted," Amber said, dropping her towel on the bench again. "Lord Raizen doesn't often gainsay her when she gets stubborn."

"...I can't imagine Kimiko walking over her father."

Amber giggled, and tossed him a wry look; Koenma felt heat creep up his face as she shook her head slightly.

"Oh no, there was a lot of shouting involved. She has to challenge him, same as anyone else. He might give way a little easier for a variety of reasons I wouldn't think of getting into, but there's still a process to it."

"Break's over," Kimiko called, half-turning to look at them. "Koenma, you and Amber, front and center!"

"...oh boy..."

Amber grinned at him a little, glee lighting her eyes.

"I'll be nice~"

"Yes, because that is so exceptionally comforting," he retorted, unable to help smiling back.

She giggled, and headed into the ring, while he followed reluctantly behind, leaving Touya to talk quietly with Momo while Kimiko set them up for a spar.

* * *

"You sure you're not babying him some?" Yusuke asked, hands behind his head. "I mean, c'mon. That mafu-whatever's worthless here."

"He's got his reasons for it, and maybe it's not such a bad thing," Kimiko replied with a shrug as she undid her braid. "From what he's told me about the mafukan, it's sort of an all-in-one spell that can save a lot of lives in a pinch. It takes a lot of power to run a spell like that, so him putting every available erg into it isn't exactly what I would call shocking."

Yusuke made a faintly disdainful sound.

"It just makes it easier to hurt him," he groused. "He can't use his energy to protect himself if he's shoving it all in the pacifier."

"That's still his choice," Kimiko replied, her voice calm and even. "He has his reasons, and it's something he's plainly sticking by, so maybe encourage him instead of insult him?"

Yusuke huffed a little, unwilling to admit that he was whining because he was worried about Koenma's potential to survive the upcoming conflict. Not that he didn't think she wasn't. Kimiko was the one who listened to Koenma's whining, after all.

Kimiko slid him a wry smile; plainly she _knew_ he was just taking the piss out of the conversation.

"Not everyone has your abilities," she pointed out. "Give him some credit; he's improving. Maybe not as fast as could be hoped, but he _is_ improving."

"Yeah, but is it gonna be enough?"

She went quiet, the smile falling off her face, and Yusuke winced a little; he tried to curb that mouth-moving-faster-than-brain issue around her, but he still wasn't good at it.

"We'll find out eventually," she finally sighed. "Are you hanging out for a specific reason, or are you just here to be obnoxious?"

"What, like me being obnoxious _isn't_ a reason?"

She raised both her eyebrows at him, pulling her hair over one shoulder to brush it. After a moment he just shrugged. No point beating around the bush with her anyways; she hated it.

"Pops said you had a nightmare."

"...of course he did," and she sighed a little. "I'm fine, Yuu. I'm not going to trip over my own shadow. It's just... memories."

He wished he could erase them somehow, especially when they made her look as lost as she currently did. It might not have been obvious to most, but he was her _brother_ , damnit. He could tell! She was tired, and Kurama wasn't due back for another week at best.

"Well, Tensei was just sayin the other day that it wasn't fair how Kurama got to curl up with you..." he drawled, making a subtle offer of the words.

She chuckled a little, but shook her head.

"Probably better if he doesn't. But he can come curl up on me in the library when I'm working."

"Yeah, but he does that _already_ ," Yusuke pointed out.

"...and?"

"You have no idea how awkward it is to explain to a kid why one person can snuggle up but another can't," he grumbled.

She laughed, which had been _mostly_ the point.

"Yuu, it's not like he's actually _that_ young," she said dryly. "He's been here ten years. He acts the way he does because he feels that acting older would creep people out. And before you give me that blank look, I asked. Just because he grows slow and probably won't get very tall doesn't mean he's not smart."

"Wait, what? He's... doing the thing?"

She rolled her eyes.

"The word, idiot sibling, is 'disassembling'," she said tartly. "And I really don't think you're _that_ oblivious. You've spent time overseeing _his_ training, so don't tell me you missed it completely."

He shrugged a little, giving up the pretense.

"Yeah, all right, so he only plays the kid. So?"

"So maybe don't always treat him like one. Yukina doesn't. You know Father doesn't either."

"Ah, Pops lets him get away with everything."

She grinned.

"Not everything. But enough. C'mon Yuu, push off. I don't need you hovering."

Busted.

"Who says I'm hovering?!" he spluttered a little.

"I do. I know you're worried, and I appreciate it, really I do. But I don't need you playing nursemaid just because I'm a little tired. It's fine. I'm in a safe place, and nothing can get me, so get lost and let me rest."

He grumbled and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Ya know..."

Kimiko smiled a little, and got up, coming over to gift him a rare kiss on the cheek.

"I know," she said fondly. "Go on."

He sighed. And went.


	4. Four

Four

Kurama rather liked the bar he'd chosen to meet Shats in. The owner _knew_ , but made no great fuss when he stepped in. The floor was clean, the air smelled fairly fresh—or at least, it didn't smell to harshly of alcohol fumes, burned foods, and other things generally associated with places of vice in Ningenkai—and the furnishings were solid. Hiei even begrudgingly admitted the beer was good.

So arriving early was more a matter of caution than anything else. Finding that he had been anticipated was almost worrying.

Almost.

Shats sat at the table they'd occupied last time, and Kurama was not sure if he was pleased or concerned to see Ides standing there as well. The taciturn, winged demon had often been sent off on missions with similar meaning to Shats, since there was no such thing as having too much information.

Nor were they remotely alone; at least a dozen of the old gang was scattered around the room, some doing better than others about pretending to be uninterested in him.

"I can always burn the place to ash," Hiei said with quiet intensity.

"Not... yet," Kurama replied, taking in the scene with a quick glance. "I was expecting this. Now we find out if they are with Yomi, or freelance."

Hiei made a sound that suggested he didn't like that idea in the least, but when Kurama stepped in, Hiei followed; it was hard to see under the black cloak, but Kurama was willing to bet he had a very tight grip on his latest sword.

Given that Kurama himself was rolling a rose seed between thumb and forefinger in one hand, and held several ivy seeds in the other, he wasn't inclined to tease. If this went sideways, he was never going to hear the end of it.

"You're early," he said calmly, sliding into his seat.

Shats looked uncomfortable. Ides just stared at him for a long moment, a blank expression on his face.

"Is this an attempt at a hostile takeover?" Kurama continued, his tone calm and cordial.

"...no boss," Shats mumbled. "Was all I could gather in three days."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I asked for others of your kind, not former members of the gang," he said with quiet reproof.

"You'll get em," Shats replied, still looking ill at ease. "Plenty are interested; soil's softer in Ningenkai, and nobody likes what came out from the trees after..."

"Wanted to see," Ides interrupted in his terse way. "Twenty years. Group fell apart. Yomi off, outside territory. On his own."

"Ah. So those who did not follow Yomi wished to ascertain that I am who I am, and...?" Lightly he tapped the table, making both demons jump. For just a moment, he had made it shudder, though dead wood was hardly worth the effort to reanimate.

"Join you again," Ides said after a long, tense minute.

"You've got ties to Lord Raizen now," Shats said, their voice a little harried. "S'power and safety, boss. We aren't good at doing this on our own."

"Going legitimate?" Kurama raised an eyebrow slightly, not sure if he was impressed by their forthrightness, or troubled by it.

Shats nodded.

"Look, we're all of us two-bit criminals, and we know it. Yomi's... Yomi's trying to make his own place, but he's not doin so hot. We didn't feel like dyin, so we left. We stuck together, but no one's got the organizing skills."

Kurama leaned back slightly in his chair, contemplatively. He'd needed to do some recruiting, admittedly, for a future when he _did_ come to rule this kingdom. He hadn't planned on doing it so _soon_ , but perhaps this wasn't such a bad choice.

After all, he'd spent the past three evenings seeding the wall and the grounds with all _manner_ of nasty plants that wouldn't take well to betrayal.

"And the skills you bring to me?"

"Same as old, boss," Shats said, relaxing a little. "Just better."

"And what I sent you to discover?"

"Got twenty hangin out. Listening. Didn't want to bring them close in case..."

In case this whole meeting went wrong. Kurama nodded a little.

"Then we shall take a walk to the east gate; those who are joining will come now, and enter. Also, continue to spread the word; we need as many diggers to listen in as we can get if we with to stay ahead of King Enma's plans."

He got to his feet, and so did almost half the bar; Hiei's tense body language conveyed that he _really_ wanted to stab someone if they got too close. Fortunately, no one was stupid enough to crowd him.

Kurama simply turned and headed out the door. They would find out soon enough if all of these people were on the level or not.

* * *

Koenma yelped as he was forced to abruptly step over the sudden small, furry obstacle in his way. His books went one way, he went the other, and poofed into his toddler form... much to the amusement of Tensei, who had clearly done that on purpose.

"Ko'ma, come play with me~"

"Tenseeiiiii," Koenma groaned. "I'm trying to do things..."

Tensei just huffed, then squeaked as Kimiko appeared, and picked him up around the middle. She _looked_ like she was trying not to smile...

"Ten are you tripping people in the library again?"

"...yes?"

"I was _trying_ to put things back," Koenma complained, getting to his feet. At least it was easier to stand up while lacking that extra three feet of height, but this was so embarrassing. "I was trying to _not_ step on his tail."

"No doubt. Ten, what've I said about bothering people while they're working?"

"...don't lay on their papers?"

"And?"

"Doooon't...jump on them from the top of the shelf?"

She made a faintly strangled sound; Koenma stared briefly. He _jumped_ people from the tops of the shelves? _Here_?!

"Ten, seriously?"

"Papa said it would be funny!" the boy replied, wriggling a little until Kimiko pulled him into a more comfortable position.

She muttered something about Yusuke that sounded vaguely uncomplimentary; Koenma elected to ignore it, instead concentrating on returning to his older form so that he could pick the books up.

"Tensei, you know the library rules," she said firmly, putting the boy down. "If you can't behave, you can't come in."

"Awwwwwww!"

It was Koenma's turn to stifle a smile; he could understand Tensei's desire to play with someone. _He_ wanted to take a break from being a serious adult and play with someone.

"Give me a couple hours to do boring adult things, and then... I'll see what I can do?" he offered.

Tensei perked up, and bounded farther into the library before Kimiko could stop him. After a moment she just sighed and shook her head a little, and Koenma caught the fond smile that crossed her face.

"...does he _really_ lay on people's papers?" he asked.

"Mmhm. Mine, mostly. I prefer to work here. You okay?"

"Ah, yeah. He just surprised me."

"That's Tensei for you," she sighed ruefully. "I don't know that he's teaching _Yusuke_ very much about how to be a parent, but Yusuke does enjoy having him around. And I know Yukina adores him, mischief and all."

"And you?"

She nodded a little, and handed him one of the books that had slid underneath a shelf.

"I often thought that, if I could have carried Kurama's child, his death might not have hurt me so much," she said quietly. "I know now that it was a ridiculous thought, since I was in no way ready to _be_ a parent myself, but it was a pervasive one."

Koenma hesitated, then nodded a little; he could somewhat see the appeal, at least from her perspective. She wasn't entirely forthcoming about that time, but just based on how they acted _now_ , he could understand what might lead her to want that.

"In any case, he's a pest, but we love him, and wouldn't have it any other way. You're lucky there's no training later so that you _can_ play with him," she added with a bit of malicious cheer.

He winced a little, and started shelving the books.

"Yeah, about that... why is it canceled?"

"Jin wanted Touya to look at something in Ningenkai; I caught something about gathering Reikai agents, so I asked a couple of the monks to look into it as well," and she shrugged lightly. "Botan's still not back yet, so I sent Amber out to make sure nothing's gone wrong. She was supposed to be here last night, and I'm worried."

"What? You didn't tell me-"

"You didn't _ask_ ," Kimiko pointed out. "Botan's been reporting to me with information for the past four months, Koenma, and not _once_ have you been involved."

He winced, his protective ire snuffing in the face of her brisk logic. He still hadn't said the words they wanted him to say, either, and now he was starting to feel more like he was being deliberately kept in the dark. He wasn't sure he liked that idea very much...

"Since it seemed pointless to let Yusuke beat on you the whole time, and I've got a few projects that I wanted to finish myself anyways, having a day off seemed like a good idea," she finished with a slight shrug.

"You don't want to beat on me?"

Kimiko blinked, then laughed softly.

"Tempting sometimes, but not today. I'm going to remember you said that, though."

"...I'm doomed, aren't I?"

"Maybe just a little bit," she said cheerfully.

Koenma sighed a little, making her laugh again, and hung his head; plainly today was _not_ the day to talk to either Amber-Ember or Botan.

* * *

"-and _then_ , as if being shot at wasn't bad enough, they tried to put up a distortion field to keep me from getting out!" Botan complained, waving one arm rather wildly and noly narrowly missing Amber's flames. "As if something like _that_ could stop a spirit guide!"

Kimiko bit the inside of her cheek, not sure if she wanted to laugh or be angry. Both women had returned, at least, but Botan was spitting mad, and Amber had injuries that weren't the passive sort. The fact that Amber's hair was a corona of blue-tipped white around her head—Botan didn't appear to notice, but Kimiko could feel the heat from where she stood, a good five feet away—suggested a lot more trouble had happened than Botan was admitting to.

"So, take the Mitoki off the list of potential stand ins for Koenma," she said when she was _certain_ her tone would be neutral.

"I'd say launch them off their own balconies," the irate apparition huffed. " _Honestly!_ "

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Kimiko's mouth curved slightly; no doubt Botan's irrepressible good nature would assert itself after some rest, and a chance to give a proper report, but it was kind of amusing to see that sort of temperament from her.

"Okay, well, why don't you go get something to eat, and see Koenma?" Kimiko said after a moment. "He's been worried since he heard you were late checking in, so I'm sure some reassurance that you're back and not hurt would be comforting to him."

"He... he has?"

"Mmhm. He's been worrying about both of you."

Botan went quiet, and also pink. Amber's flaming hair slowly started to shift colors from white heat to her more regular yellow-orange.

"But... it's very late."

"I think he'll be glad to see you, no matter the hour," and Kimiko smiled a little. "Stars know I am. Besides, we're both having late nights lately... last I saw, he was in the library, going over some of father's older military texts."

Given that they were three days overdue, she was fairly positive that the midnight hour wouldn't matter even _slightly_.

Botan hesitated, then looked at Amber-Ember.

"We can meet in the dining hall," Amber said, her voice even... but Kimiko could hear the strain it took to _keep_ that levelness. "Go ahead. You need it."

"You do too..."

"I need healing first, just a little," and Amber even managed a small smile, her hair now all calm and yellow flames again, much to Kimiko's private relief. "Go ahead. It'll be all right."

"...well, all right. I'll wait for you there, so you'd better show up!"

"I will," and Amber waved a hand slightly, smiling. "Shoo."

Botan didn't entirely look _pleased_ to leave, but she did leave. Slowly. When it was just them, and Kimiko judged Botan's energy to be far enough away that a shout wouldn't bring her hurrying back, she moved towards the fire demon, and rested a hand on her arm.

"Okay, what _wasn't_ she saying?"

"The Mitoki are raising their own army, albeit a small one, in a bid to sheer off their _own_ part of Reikai,"Amber said flatly, wincing a little then relaxing as Kimiko's energy slid around the injuries she'd been working to hide. Kimiko's lips thinned as she tallied the number of cracked bones her former bodyguard had racked up in Botan's aid. "They don't want King Enma's rule, or Lord Koenma's, they want their _own_."

"So, basically, the civil war that Enma thought he'd put down is surging again?"

"Not entirely..."Amber hissed a little as ribs popped back into place.

"Then what, exactly?"

"The Mitoki seem to be an outlier. Their army is tiny, if well trained, and personally, I think they'd do better here in Makai than in Reikai. If they hadn't tried to beat us into submission, I might've told Lord Raizen about them."

Kimiko snorted; when Raizen heard about the damage done to her people, it wouldn't matter if the Mitoki were in Reikai, he'd send someone to blow them up anyways. Or go himself, if he was feeling particularly ornery. The fun part here was going to be talking him out of it. Especially since she actually didn't particularly _want_ to; it was _her friends_ that had been hurt.

"How did Botan remain uninjured, while you got all _this_?" she asked, giving her friend a narrow stare.

"...I baited them," Amber admitted after a moment too long.

" _Amber_."

"I didn't want her to get hurt! ...it was my fault her cover got blown anyways," and the fire demon sighed. "They managed to say all the wrong things, and for once, the fire got the better of me."

Kimiko sighed a little, and pulled back, absently shaking out her hand, and feeling moderately worn out by the drain of energy. It would help her sleep if nothing else, though it remained to be seen whether that sleep was bound to be peaceful or not.

"All right... Food, and rest. Try to avoid lifting anything heavy for at least three days so that the healing has time to set, would you?"

"Define heavy, my lady."

Well, if she could be sassy, she was feeling better, and Kimiko managed to dredge up a tired smile.

"Fifty pounds heavy, smartass. No shifting either. Go on. I bet Botan won't want to visit Koenma without you, and you both seem to be in _dire_ need of sleep."

Amber sighed a little, and got to her feet with care, which offered a bit of comfort to Kimiko's mind. She gave a shallow bow, wrapped an arm around her abused torso, and carefully walked out, leaving Kimiko alone in the room. She sighed quietly, and turned over a few thoughts as she let her energy come trickling back.

The Mitoki as a threat were probably minimal, but she'd get a proper report—both verbal and written—from the pair of them in a couple days, and do a proper threat assessment then. The fact that they had tried to hold Botan, and then attacked when Amber had gone to retrieve her, wasn't exactly encouraging.

By the harried account, _Botan_ had been the one to get them out, but not before Amber had plainly taken more than her fair share of hits. It made her wonder at the loyalty of those soldiers; could they be bought or cajoled to the rebellion?

After a moment she smiled tiredly, and pushed herself to her feet; she wished Kurama was close, but he was still in Kitare. Even a short message from the network of people Hokushin oversaw hadn't been terribly reassuring, especially as it lacked anything that resembled a date for returning to her. So if she was going to talk to anyone about this, her father was her best bet.

Well... at least there were _two_ people back where they belonged. Hopefully that would calm her thoughts enough that she would get a decent amount of sleep before starting on the challenges that would come with the dawn.

* * *

"Do you think we should?" Botan asked softly, uncertainly.

"I don't see why not," Amber-Ember said with a small shrug. "Lady Kimiko wouldn't have told us where he was if she didn't expect us to check in with him."

Because Kimiko _was_ that brand of straightforward, Botan nodded, though she didn't look entirely reassured. Amber smiled a little, affectionately patting the spirit guide on the shoulder.

"You'll have to go and get him, I'm afraid; Lady Kimiko said I ought to not shift, and I don't dare go into the library with my hair like this," she said, gesturing slightly to the yellow-orange corona. "But it's late enough that he probably _should_ get kicked off to bed, assuming he hasn't fallen asleep on a desk."

"Oh dear. That's an uncomfortable position to sleep in..."

"Mmhm. So you should rescue him from it, shouldn't you?"

The pink that touched Botan's cheeks made Amber snicker a little. While she still hadn't been given an answer on how Botan felt on her, it was all-too-clear that there was something for the deposed prince.

"You... really can't come in with me?" Botan asked.

"I _could_ ," Amber allowed, "but if anything in there catches fire, I'll catch hell. Some of those scrolls are _ancient_ , and I'd rather not risk Lord Raizen's temper. And Lady Kimiko doesn't forbid things for a reason; it's probably best to actually listen to what she wants."

Botan drooped, and Amber lightly patted her shoulder.

"You were brave with the Mitoki," she teased gently. "Surely you an be brave here. Lord Koenma isn't half as scary."

"...I would take offense to that if I knew who I was being compared to," came Koenma's dry comment, making both women jump slightly.

He had approached with a surprising amount of stealth, all things considered. To Amber's critical eye, he looked tired... no _exhausted_. But also pleased to see both of them. He also was carrying a somewhat unwieldy stack of papers... notes? What had he been doing in the library this late?

"K-Koenma, sir!" Botan squeaked, dipping hastily into a bow. "Oh dear, we didn't disturb you, did we?"

"No, no, nothing like that," he said with a small smile. "I almost fell asleep on my own inkwell, so I thought it was time to go to bed. You're both back in one piece, I see. That's good. I was... worried."

"What _are_ you doing in the library this late?" Amber asked, tipping her head slightly.

"Kimiko thinks that if I study old battles, I might get a feel for tactics. I'm not sure if she's right, but it can't hurt. I think... Well, can't hurt any more than sparring with Yusuke."

Amber laughed, Botan winced in sympathy.

"If you're making a statement like that, you plainly _do_ need sleep," the fire demon teased, grinning slightly.

"I don't think I'm the only one," he retorted, looking briefly more awake as he glanced between them. "When was the last time either of you got the proper amount?"

Botan looked embarrassed, Amber only shrugged.

"Define 'proper amount', if you please," she retorted.

For a moment, Koenma looked like he might try, but that moment was ruined by a yawn of his own. Botan covered hers, while Amber only snorted a little, good-naturedly.

"Since we _all_ need sleep, let's go ahead and get it," she said with a modicum of cheer. "We can hash out the details of who's been least responsible in the morning."

* * *

It had taken a lot of effort to not dump all his papers when he'd heard their familiar voices. They had been overdue, and Kimiko's concerns had shaded over into _his_ concerns, and it was _so_ good to hear familiar tones that it had taken all his self-control and then some to not rush out and hug both of them.

It helped that he didn't want to scare either one; both Botan and Amber were trained in self-defense, and while they'd both fall over themselves apologizing, he'd still having a ringing head and some new bruises.

Koenma couldn't help the small smile, though, as Amber fell in on his right, and Botan on his left. Something inside _was_ relaxing, now that they were there. Now certainly wasn't the right time to say anything, but it helped to know that they were safe, and only worn out.

He paused at the door to his rooms, then turned, and freed a hand just long enough to catch up first Botan's, then Amber's, and give them both a small squeeze.

"I'm glad you're both back. Now. Go get some rest," he said, trying to sound stern.

Amber snorted at him, but there was a subtle softness about her expression. Botan's expression shifted from startled to shyly pleased, and he got the sense that 'stern' might have failed miserably. Oh well. She looked better when she smiled anyways.

"We're going, we're going,"Amber said genially.

"Ah, yes. Good night, sir!"

"Good night," he replied.

Knowing that they wouldn't leave until he went into his rooms, he pushed the door open with his shoulder, then nudged it mostly closed behind him, listening until he heard two sets of footsteps heading down the hall.

 _Then_ he tossed his papers up into the air with relief. They were back, they were safe, that was one less thing for him to worry about. And if he knew Kimiko as well as he thought, there would be a debriefing at some point in the day that he was damn well going to make sure he was there for.

It was time and past for him to step up and commit.

* * *

Morning was unforgiving, but Kimiko got up anyways, feeling rather like she'd been shoved in a barrel and thrown down a waterfall.

Having actually done that before, it wasn't too far off. The only thing missing was the bruises.

Stupid nightmares.

Logically she ought to have made some excuses and returned to bed, but there was no comfort to be found in rest; distraction with work was the best she could offer, and minimal contact with people in the coming hours until she felt stable.

She snorted a little, knowing that she wasn't going to get to minimize contact today. She still needed the verbal reports from Botan and Amber, as well as Momo, Jin, and Touya. Then she needed to talk to her father about what had _happened_ to Botan and Amber, and see if Raizen had any news on what Kurama and Hiei were doing.

And of course there was no doubt that, at some point, Yusuke would come to crash into things as well, seeking something worth doing.

Which was why she clipped a small bundle of lilac to the collar of her shortcoat, and slipped a small bag of stones into the pocket. The softness of the floral scent was soothing, and the variation of stones would help keep her grounded. And since the flowers were bolstered by Kurama's energy, they weren't in danger of expiring any time soon.

As she headed for breakfast, a stray thought nipped her, giving her pause; would it _help_ to visit Kurama? Or would that just make things worse?

"Man, it is way too early for you to have the look of doom and gloom," Yusuke said, slinging his arm around her shoulders and dragging her along for a few steps before she started walking on her own again. "You look like crap, Sis."

"Gee thanks," she said dourly, moving his arm slightly so that he didn't crush the lilac blooms. "You're so good for my ego, Yuu."

"I know," he grinned.

She sighed and punched him lightly in the side.

"Ass."

"Yup~ Seriously, though, what's with the face?"

She punched him again, a little harder this time. Snickering a bit, the arm around her shoulder squeezed, then released, and he shoved his hands casually into his pockets.

"I don't know what you're talking about, so I'm not dignifying that with an answer," she retorted, straightening her coat as they walked in sync.

"Ah, c'mon. You know Pops is gonna pester you if I don't."

Kimiko sighed a little.

"Nothing's _wrong_ ," she said irritably. "I'm just tired is all."

She caught Yusuke's look, and watched him cycle through at least three different replies before he picked one.

"Bad dreams, or just late night studies?"

It was even one that wouldn't get him punched again, which meant he'd been talking to Yukina again. Well, good. She loved her brother, but when he used his brain, it usually led to more helpful interactions. While squabbling in the hall was amusing to everyone _else_ , it usually just left her feeling worse.

"Both," she said finally. "Botan and Amber got in last night, finally; Amber needed a little bit of work, but it wasn't life-threatening. Just tedious."

He never asked about the nightmares, which she appreciated. She didn't like discussing the mix of memory and fear with anyone. It felt too much like ill-wishing, even if keeping them to herself was damaging to her.

"Well, that's good. Has pacifier breath changed his stance on anything yet?"

"He's getting there Yusuke, and would it kill you to use his name? You know you're friends," she huffed.

"Hey, when he steps up, I'll think about it," Yusuke replied with a shrug that mixed nonchalant and uncaring.

Kimiko thought about punching him, then discarded the idea. She was tired enough to know that it wouldn't do her any good, even if she _could_ catch him by surprise.

"Are you going to sit in at the debrief?" she asked instead.

"Nah. Though I'd take a couple monks, go see what's keeping Kurama and Hiei," he said with a shrug. "Maybe punt a few things along the way. Hey, when're we going to visit Ningenkai, anyways?"

She blinked at him, then a small part of her relaxed; her brother might have been a dumbass, but he was a concerned dumbass, and she did love him for it. He might deny to his dying breath that he was doing this for her, but that was _exactly_ what he was doing.

"I wish I knew," she said after a moment. "The whole point was to visit Kurama's human family as... well..." and she flushed a little, waving a hand awkwardly. "You know. But for that, we kind of need Kurama to be here." She hesitated for a moment, then lightly shrugged. "I was also thinking of dragging Koenma along; it might help him see the reason we're so adamant about him being in charge of Reikai once that mess is settled and over with."

"So much for not being a big, powerful group," and he grinned at her.

"Oh, shut up."

* * *

"So, in your own words, what happened?" Kimiko invited.

Botan looked from her to Koenma, and tried not to fidget nervously. She hadn't expected the Reikai prince, _her_ prince, to attend the debriefing. It meant something, she knew, but _what_ , she didn't entirely know. It made her wish she could have had Amber in the same room, but that might have defeated the purpose...

"Well, when I got to the manor, the Mitoki matriarch wasn't the most welcoming," she said slowly. "She didn't try to throw me out, but it wasn't hard to see that she didn't really want me there either. Her older sons weren't in evidence, and her one daughter was scared stiff of me for that first day. I think she was afraid that I was a spy, which... well..."

Kimiko smiled a little wryly, nodding.

"The servants weren't terribly forthcoming either, but I managed to glean a few hints from eavesdropping on them about the small army that Mitoki have raised. The two eldest sons seem to be the generals for that, though I'm not sure how well they actually do... And given how everyone in the house seems to fear the matriarch in some way, I was going to write it off as something of a lost cause. She was certainly taking her time responding to the message you sent."

"Not surprising," Kimiko said with a small shrug. "The more important someone thinks they are, the longer they make someone wait to have them think they're _less_ important."

"The Mitoki haven't always been the most vocal of Father's supporters," Koenma said after a moment. "I suppose it shouldn't be too surprising to learn that they're trying to train people to topple him."

Botan looked at him for a moment, worry curling in her stomach; he didn't seem happy with the news. Then again, who would be? He needed some form of stable power base if he was going to take over, but everything was in turmoil again...

"They're not actually connected with the underground rebellions?" Kimiko asked.

"No... well, mostly no," Botan amended. "I think if the daughter wasn't so scared of her mother, she'd try. I did learn that she's been sneaking what she can from the budget for their military to give to other people... That's part of why I got caught, actually..."

"You tried covering for her."

It was said as a statement, not a question. The fact that they both said it, in almost the same tone of voice, was enough to make Botan blush, even as she grinned sheepishly. Exasperation, resignation, even amusement. Koenma shook his head with a small sigh, while Kimiko looked like she was stifling a smile.

"I wasn't going to stay for very _long_ , but I wanted to make sure she wouldn't get hurt!" Botan protested.

"You stayed _too_ long," Kimiko pointed out, though her tone was gentle. "We can't afford to lose people, Botan, especially not those with gifts like yours."

She hung her head a little. She just hadn't wanted to leave the girl alone in such a precarious position.

"Were there any other impressions?" Koenma asked, surprising Botan into looking back up. "Like... the rest of whoever you might've encountered..."

"Well, most of the servants didn't feel they were getting paid enough to cover up a rebellion," she offered after a minute. "But they were too scared of what the Mitoki matriarch would do to them if they said anything. I think the sons are more than willing to get into a fight..."

Kimiko made a few notes, nodding a little.

"Okay. And you obviously saw this army on the way out, after Amber arrived to pull you out?"

Botan nodded a little.

"Some of it, anyways..."

"How'd they look?"

She frowned thoughtfully, half-closing her eyes.

"I guess well-trained?" Botan offered after a moment. "I haven't seen many armies before, so..."

"Fair," Kimiko nodded a little. "They were trying to shoot at you?"

Koenma made a faintly strangled sound when Botan nodded, and looked outraged. Then winced, and Botan was willing to guess that Kimiko had kicked him under the table. She tried not to giggle as he gave his friend a sour glare.

"They weren't very good shots, but they did try," she said. "Amber burned anything out of the air that got too close."

"And the barrier?"

"Oh, I think that was the matriarch... It was a little scary, but no barrier can stop a spirit guide; we _have_ to be able to get in and out of theoretically secure places, after all."

Kimiko made another few notes, chuckling a little.

"Can you think of anything else?"

"...well, I'd like to go back and give her a piece of my mind... but I'd also kind of like to get the Mitoki daughter out of there," Botan admitted. "I don't think she wants any part of her family's plans, but she doesn't know how to _leave_."

Koenma frowned a little, and Kimiko only offered a light shrug.

"I promise nothing, but I'll see what can be done," she said. "Okay, go get us Amber, would you?"

Botan nodded, hopping to her feet with a small sigh of relief. Reporting to Kimiko was one thing, but having Koenma staring at her made her all _kinds_ of nervous. She still hadn't been able to figure out if she _liked him_ , liked him, or if it was just respect and admiration. Of course, she was still waffling on how she felt about Amber too... It was definitely a good thing that the fire demon was so much more patient than expected.

Amber looked up as she stepped out of the room, offering a small smile, and Botan was once again struck by the simple majesty of the way the flames just curled around her face.

"My turn?" Amber asked, her voice breaking Botan out of her train of thought.

"Ah, y-yes!" she squeaked. "Prince Koenma's in there too, just... just so you're not surprised."

Amber's eyes widened slightly, and she sat up a little straighter.

"Well now... Thank you for that."

Amber got up and walked into the room,and Botan sank down on the bench her friend had vacated, going over what she'd seen again. Had Koenma been upset to learn that they'd been attacked? Had he been angry about the attack, or the idea that they'd almost been hurt?

Absently, Botan worried at her sleeve, then leaned back against the stone wall with a small sigh. If only there was a way to make time slow down a little, to give them all a little bit more of it...

* * *

"You didn't have to kick me that hard," Koenma grumbled, rubbing his shin lightly.

"Being upset over them getting shot at is cute, but useless," Kimiko replied, setting a small stack of papers to one side as she prepared for Amber to enter. "Botan volunteered for this work, and Amber's probably older than both of us put together. Don't insult them. Or me."

He hadn't been trying to insult anyone, not really. He just... had a hard time with sending Botan out on a mission that had plainly almost gotten her seriously hurt. Kimiko having sent Amber to rescue the spirit guide certainly indicated that it hadn't been a _harmless_ mission, after all.

"No one asked-"

"I'll kick you again," she said mildly. "You tried to pretend none of this was happening. I let you. Maybe I shouldn't have, but what's done is done, and you're just going to have to make your peace with that. People _talk_ to Botan; she's sweet, friendly, and can get into places that a great many other people can't. She _also_ swings a mean oar, and knows how to pull out when she's in over her head. Or if she didn't, she does now."

Koenma subsided into a semi-sulky silence; he knew he really only had himself to blame for his ignorance, but he hadn't realized just how much that admittance would chafe.

Fortunately enough, Amber chose that moment to enter the room, moving to sit carefully on the chair that Botan had vacated. It was the sort of careful that indicated a recent healing, and he felt himself starting to get upset all over again.

Kimiko didn't even look at him, simply picked up her pen and held it ready over the paper.

"All right Amber. Tell us what happened after you got there."

* * *

"I think the Mitoki as a threat are relatively _minor_ , but I don't know that they'll stay that way," Kimiko said, absently tapping her papers as she watched her father. "While Koenma might protest, I'm all for a preemptive assassination."

Raizen's smile was slow and malicious; it sent a chill down her spine, even as it soothed her. It was almost funny how something that looked so cold and biting could also offer some comfort to her mood.

"Not of everyone," she continued after a moment. "Botan thinks the daughter has potential, once out from under the fist of the matriarch. And of course the trickier part is that it can't obviously be _us_ , Father."

He nodded, but that didn't change the smile even one hair. Which meant he had a sneaky plan, and he also wasn't going to share it with her. Given time and effort, she could _probably_ badger it out of him, but she also enjoyed having some plausible deniability in any given situation. Plus, she was just too tired to want to give it the proper effort.

"And Momo's report?"

She pressed her lips together tightly, briefly. The reports given by Momo, Jin, and Touya had stirred the embers of her temper. While there was no guarantee that it would upset Raizen the same way, the simple fact that it made _her_ angry would make him want to do something about it.

And she had to be _very_ careful about that.

"Reikai soldiers are seeking the dryad trees that were liberated. At least two were destroyed, and a dozen more have been badly damaged to the point where they're not sure if tree or apparition will survive."

Raizen's smile faded and from his casually slouched position he shifted slowly upright. Many of the tree apparitions—the dryad as Momo had called them—had planted their trees in Ningenkai, but made their actual homes in Makai. Raizen himself had ceded them several acres of forest to live in, with as much safety as could be guaranteed in Makai.

It had been a challenge to _get_ that land for them, but Kimiko was still convinced it was worth the effort.

"Did you include the prince on those meetings?" he asked finally.

"I did. He seemed upset about the soldiers, but didn't have any useful suggestions. If we send more demons into Ningenkai, Reikai will respond with more soldiers, but if we try to pull people back, the dryad will think we don't care about them." She made a frustrated sound, then rubbed her face tiredly. "And of course, most of them barely trust us as-is, so we don't even know what tress need protecting. I think I need to go to Tiltras and talk to them, instead of having them talk to Momo, and Momo talk to me."

"Take the princeling with you," Raizen suggested, and his tone was filled with wry amusement. "Make him do something useful."

She wanted to argue that he _was_ being useful, but she couldn't do it without lying. Because he _wasn't_ being particularly helpful, even as he was trying to learn. There was only so much learning that could be done from books, however, and it was tiring to have most of this on _her_ head.

"I might as well... Maybe it'll give him a kick in the ass."

Her father's laughter was all at her expense, and she gave him a half-hearted glare in response.

* * *

"We're going... where?"

"Tiltras," Kimiko replied. "It's the forest that Father is letting the dryad live in."

"All right, but... why am I going?"

Koenma tried not to sound as confused as he was, but he was fairly sure he wasn't succeeding. He hadn't actually _left_ Tourin castle since he'd arrived in Makai. Wasn't sure he _wanted_ to.

"Because I need your help, and _you_ need some practical experience," she retorted. "Tiltras isn't far; if we leave now, we can get to the edge by nightfall."

"But you.. don't you need...?"

"Tourin isn't going to fall down because I leave," and her voice was sharp enough to cut. "Nor do I need someone to nursemaid me while I'm outside. We're going to collect Momo, Touya, and Jin on the way out, as well as Kei to keep us informed if anything worthy of note happens while we're away."

"...not Yusuke?"

"Yuu took a few monks and went to visit Kurama in Kitare; he left before lunch. And before you ask, Amber needs to rest for another day at least; she wouldn't be welcome in the forest in any case, not until she can shift again. Botan _also_ needs rest, but that's mostly because she's finished a difficult run, and I want her to relax. You can tell them where we'll be if you want to, but you've only got half an hour to pack before I come get you again. So talk fast."

Given her mood, it was safer to just nod in agreement; when he did, she turned and walked down the hall at a quick clip, leaving him standing at the juncture alone. Briefly he hoped that whatever was eating her wasn't going to linger... he preferred his friend calm and collected instead of trying to bite his head off.

Then he turned and headed for his own rooms; maybe he'd get lucky and encounter one, or both, on the way.


	5. Five

Five

Tiltras was an _old_ forest. The very air it exuded spoke of centuries long past, of times forgotten by even the oldest of demons who yet lived on the fringes of the world. The ground was littered with fallen leaves and pine needles, the trees themselves soared so high overhead that getting to their tops without benefit of wings would have taken days.

Fortunately enough, the dryad didn't live in the treetops.

Night fell as they entered the dense forest, and Kimiko heard Kei mutter something about it being as dark as the inside of a pocket under the trees. It got him a snicker from Jin, if nothing else.

"Momo, how deep into the forest do we have to go?" she asked.

The plum apparition stepped up, looking around carefully; they had approached the eastern-most edge of the wood, Kimiko having elected to go in as straight a line from Tourin as possible.

"...a ways," she replied softly. "Another day."

"Okay. We'll camp here tonight, and start again with dawn."

"We're not goin through the night?" Jin asked.

"It's a Makai forest, Jin," Kimiko pointed out. "Do _you_ want to get eaten by the things that might linger under the trees?"

"Ah, they'd have tae catch me first!"

She snorted a little, rolling her eyes as Momo and Touya sighed in identical ways. Plainly they were used to his bravado too.

"Well, we're not going to risk it. It'll be dark enough in the daytime, if that canopy is any indication, and not all of us can _float_."

He grinned a cheeky grin from his cross-legged position in midair, and she stifled the urge to swat him; he really was just like her brother in all ways that mattered, which generally left her feeling irritated or amused in turns.

Given the amount of stress she was currently laboring under, most of it was annoyance, but since that _mostly_ wasn't his fault she was doing her level best to ignore it.

"I'll take first watch," she said instead. "Koenma, you're with me. Momo and Toya can have mid, and then Jin and Kei on third."

Koenma blinked, plainly not knowing what she meant, but did what he could to help set up their small camp. There were no tents—no one with sense blocked out their view of anything in Makai—but the sleeping rolls were tucked together in close proximity to a small fire that was tightly ringed with stones to prevent any brands from escaping.

After eating, the other four settled into their sleeping rolls, while Kimiko took up a stance at the outer edge of the fire.

"...what do I do?" Koenma asked, a little plaintively.

"We wait, watch, listen," Kimiko replied, tucking her hands into her pockets. "Don't stare at the fire, it'll wreck your night vision."

"Is this necessary?"

"You're not in Tourin palace now, Koenma," and she smiled thinly without looking away from the forest before her. "Just because Tourin _territory_ bows to my father doesn't mean all its residents are conversant with how his people look. And there's plenty of bandits around, especially this far away from a village or town."

She had cut the expanse of sky with a large, somewhat floppy hat this time, just in case she needed both her hands. It wasn't perfect, and now that it was night, there wasn't a lot of sky to _see_... but she knew herself well enough to take care. Stressed as she was—she needed to pass _something_ off at some point or she was going to collapse and she knew it—it wouldn't take a lot of effort to swign her into that useless sort of frame.

And right now, useless was the last thing she wanted to be.

"You're not the best fighter yet, but you're good enough that if someone does try to jump us, you can hold your own," she continued after a minute. "As long as you don't stray far from the campsite, it should be fine."

"Should," he echoed, though she could tell from the muffled tone that he seemed to be mimicking her on the opposite side.

Kimiko chuckled softly.

"Should," she agreed.

"Very comforting."

"I wasn't aware that I was supposed to be that. I'm better at being practical. Now hush. Listen to the world."

A fairly poetic way to point out that he was supposed to be guarding, but it was true; neither of them were too familiar with the sounds of life outside of Tourin. Kimiko half-closed her eyes, preferring to trust her ears and other senses as she settled comfortably into a waiting position. Behind her, she could hear Koenma shuffling uncertainly, but he seemed to be heeding her...

A small part of her mind whispered that it was almost funny how she—having almost the same experience as Koenma with outside, which was to say, _none—_ was much calmer, more ready to see what might come than her friend.

After a moment she mentally shrugged, and returned her focus to the trees and paths beyond the camp. And tried not to wonder too much about how her brother was faring.

* * *

Koenma fidgeted nervously as he tried to understand what it was he was supposed to be doing. He didn't entirely understand _any_ of what had been asked; not why he was there, not why he was 'on watch' with Kimiko, not what he could _possibly_ provide the dryad, when he could barely provide anything for himself.

He wished that he'd been able to catch either Amber or Botan on the way out, but had to admit that both of them were probably resting and they had more than earned that rest. But who, he wondered, would tell them the reason he was away? He was out _in_ Makai, instead of just lurking around the palace.

The ancient forest at his back gave him the chills; he was willing to _swear_ it was watching him, watching _all_ of them. Given that it _was_ Makai... someone probably was.

It wasn't a comforting thought to acknowledge. No more was the fact that apparently Raizen thought them capable enough to _not_ have a dozen extra people as guards.

Or was that Kimiko's opinion?

He worried a little at the mafukan, trying not to be obvious about it. He would have given quite a bit to be back at the palace, safe in his ignorance again.

But wasn't it that ignorance that he needed to challenge? He'd sat in on the debriefings for that very reason, even if he hadn't had too much to offer. Just knowing what challenges were ahead was more than what he'd been doing.

Reluctantly, after a moment more,he acknowledged the fact that he _did_ need to meet with the dryad. To formally apologize for his father's actions, if nothing else. And to discuss what he could about reparations, alliances, _true_ protection.

Nothing he could offer. Nothing he could _give_ without taking that step that he had wanted to avoid. But was there really a choice? His father was effectively killing these people simply because they'd taken the chance to get out from under while they'd had it.

And there was no guarantee that any other replacement they found would honor the deals made to get them there.

Which left only one choice.

"...I have to depose my father," he said quietly.

From behind him, he heard a very small snort.

"Took you long enough," Kimiko replied tartly. Then, a little more softly, "You're not alone, Koenma. We've got your back."

"Thanks. I think."

"You're welcome~ Now hush and focus, please."

It was his turn to snort, but he had to admit that saying the words out loud, finally, did help. A little, at least. He still didn't know _how_ he was going to take down his father—and frankly the idea that he could was both laughable and terrifying—but at least now he was more... committed to the plan.

Which admittedly brought up a whole host of _other_ problems, but that was neither here nor there at the moment. Instead, he did as Kimiko asked, and returned his attention to the perimeter of the camp. Hopefully, with any luck, the night would pass uneventfully.

* * *

"You think Yomi's coming?" Hiei asked as Kurama perched at the top of the south wall.

Kurama inclined his head slightly; there was no point in denying it. At least three of the newly come bandits carried the scent of his former second on their clothes; whether they had defected or were spying _for_ Yomi, he frankly didn't care. That they'd lied to him was a far more grievous insult, and he was mulling over how to deal with it.

"A blind fool's not too much threat," the smaller demon said after a moment.

"He's had two decades to learn how to accommodate. Hot-headed and foolish as he was, if he's still alive, he's learned how to compensate for his disability."

"Hn. What will you do?"

Kurama was quiet, feeling around with his energy through the web of plants. What he _wanted_ to do was leave Yomi in the dust, both literally and figuratively. Yomi's impulsiveness had cost him much, including time that he had wished to spend with Kimiko. True, perhaps it was better this way, but it was still a far cry from how the initial plan had been envisioned.

Two other demons stood at the base of the wall, either uncaring that he would know, or unknowing. Tempting to snarl them in poison vines... but if they would lead Yomi in, perhaps it would be better to let them live.

For now.

"If he challenges me, I will kill him."

Not without _some_ regret, but Yomi had used up the last of his patience in their last encounter. If he was foolish enough to try and press _anything_ , Kurama was done, done, _done_.

"Fine by me," Hiei said with a small shrug. "Can you?"

"Yes."

Yomi would not be the first person he'd killed, nor, Kurama suspected, would he be the last. It might be trickier, take more effort in this body that still didn't hold as much energy as necessary, but he wasn't inclined to let Yomi become an actual threat. Scaring Kimiko once was—barely—permissible. Twice? He'd be _lucky_ if he could make it back to see her again.

He was not going to risk that. Which meant that if Yomi was foolish enough to _try_ , well, he was also foolish enough to die.

* * *

"You didn't _wait_?" Yusuke asked, a little outraged at the fact that she was out there _without him_.

"Soonest handled, soonest done," Kimiko replied with a small shrug. "Besides, by the time I got the information, you were already gone. Chasing you, or waiting on you, would take more time than we have. If this doesn't get handled now, with as much sincerity as possible, we risk losing the dryad as a helpful source of information."

He grumbled, and paced the long edge of the dreamspace, conjuring up rocks to kick to properly display his irritation. He could hear his sister's patient sigh as he did so, and turned to kick a rock at her. She smacked it out of the air, and rolled her eyes in tolerant amusement.

"What are you, five?" she teased gently. "I don't need nursemaids or shepherds, Yuu. And Father didn't put up a fuss at the people I have, so you don't even have a leg to stand on. How's your own trip going? I didn't think you'd be inclined towards stopping for the night."

"I made the mistake of grabbing Tashi," Yusuke grumbled.

Kimiko snickered. Tashi was a new monk disciple, having only joined in the past two months, and was not _quite_ up to the rigors of travel of the kind Yusuke liked.

"So, basically, you're sleeping out of sheer boredom."

He shrugged. It was a 'yes' shrug. She snickered again, and shook her head.

"You've got watch rotation, right?"

"Yes, Yuu, I set that up," and her expression was once more filled with tolerant humor. "Koenma and I had first watch, Momo and Touya are up now, and then it'll be Jin and Kei. I don't think you have any right to pester me about it either, since you're asleep too."

"I'm not the one who usually _needs_ protecting," he retorted.

"Yusuke, I can count on one hand the number of times you've gone out and _haven't_ gotten into a brawl of some type," Kimiko shot back, eyes narrowing. " _You_ are the one who likes to cause trouble. Not me."

"How's it my fault if they're stupid enough to attack me?"

She just sighed, conjured up a pillow, and threw it at him.

* * *

The nice thing about dreamspace visits was that they left no room for nightmares. It was the first time in almost two weeks where waking up didn't feel like slogging through mud, and Kimiko actually felt like she'd gotten some proper rest.

Which was good, because she could feel a humming tension in the air; more than that, Kei's energy was almost directly over her, and it was his hand that had given her that light shake into awareness. Realizing this put her senses on alert, and she registered a trio of energy signatures coming down from the north... all of them with a level of energy that either matched or was just slightly stronger than Raizen's.

They weren't too close yet, but she knew this trick; sweeping the energy forward cleared the path of more minor-strength people. What they were doing she couldn't say for sure, but the fact that her group seemed to be right in the middle of their path was _decidedly_ discomforting.

Slowly she sat up, and looked around; Jin, almost directly ahead of her, was tense and uncharacteristically silent. Touya was on her left, and there was a faint bite of cold to the air that suggested he was carrying some ice crystals in his palm. Kei, now at her back, let his hand drop from her shoulder as she shifted carefully, curling her legs underneath her.

"What _is_ it?" she breathed.

"We don't know," Kei replied quietly, uneasily as he moved to shake Momo awake. "We started feeling it about an hour ago,and it's only grown closer. We seem to be... directly in the way of them. Whoever they are."

She pressed her lips into a thin line briefly, then reached over and shook Koenma. He groaned a little, and muttered something that sounded like mice in sweaters, rolling over. Impatiently she shook him again, until he lifted his head with a complaining sound.

"Get up," she hissed. "We've got trouble coming, and we need to leave."

Having never actually seen him in the early mornings, his bleary reactions were both unwelcome and hindering... but short of throwing water in his face, she wasn't sure there was much she could do to encourage his brain to wake up faster.

And she _really_ didn't feel like advertising their presence if he started yelling about it.

Since it was tempting, she clambered out of her bedroll, folding it up deftly and quickly packing it away. Kei, having woken Momo, was hurrying through breaking down the rest of the camp, burying what was left of the fire under dirt and stone, while Momo herself was facing north with a confused frown on her face.

"What?" Kimiko asked, giving Koenma another shove as the prince seemed disinclined towards actually getting up.

"I... I'm not sure," Momo said after a moment. "But... Something about their energy, my lady..."

Making herself take a breath—getting snippy wouldn't help anything right now—Kimiko waited as patiently as she could for Momo to find the right words.

"It... feels somewhat like _yours_."

Kimiko blinked, irritation born from fear fading into surprise.

"Like mine?"

Momo looked at her quickly, then nodded gingerly. Kimiko bit her lip, then shook her head a little.

"We don't have time to spare right now. It might not be dawn just yet, but I feel like chancing the forest is the better option."

There was no denying that she was curious, so she didn't try. But there were other priorities she had to attend to at the moment, and none of them involved investigating an energy signature that might be similar to her own.

No matter _how_ curious she might be about it.

Momo looked towards the north again, then nodded a little when Kimiko cleared her throat pointedly. Koenma's laggardly morning behavior aside, the camp was swiftly dismantled, and into the forest they went; Momo was in the lead, technically being both guide and liaison, Kimiko half-dragged Koenma as she followed the plum apparition, while Jin, Kei, and Touya brought up the rear.

Walking in the dark forest was not easy; the tall trees blocked out the sky to be certain, but there were plenty of things growing at ground level that were easy to trip over. Even as the dawn broke, the light that filtered down—and it _was_ light, very much like Ningenkai sunlight—was weak and patchy at best. The trees and vines cast deeper shadows now, and the forest itself seemed to stir.

Worse, the energy signatures appeared to have shifted course to follow them.

* * *

Koenma decided he really didn't like the forest after tripping over a series of roots for what felt like the hundredth time. It felt—it _was—_ oppressive, and the lack of sunlight only reinforced this fact. But complaining to someone seemed like a bad idea; if he didn't understand entirely _why_ they had gotten up before dawn to walk into a forest Kimiko had been fairly sure would try to eat them, he understood that they were all sensing something he wasn't.

It wasn't the first time he regretted that he needed to put all his energy into the mafukan spells in preparation for dark times for humanity. Just the most recent. But he couldn't _not_ put the energy there...

He shook his head lightly and staggered as his foot hit another root; Kimiko caught him before he could actually fall face-first into the dirt again, and it surprised him to realize that she was shivering slightly. The forest wasn't _cold_... it was annoyingly dark, but not cold.

So why...?

"I don't think we're going to be able to outrun this," she said quietly. "Take Jin and Momo; follow Momo to the dryad village."

He stared at her for a full minute, still stumbling along. She wasn't looking at him, she was looking ahead, tracking the path far better than he was, to be certain... Her expression—what he could see of it in the low light—was drawn tight, lips pressed together hard enough to almost be a single thin line.

While something in him welcomed the idea, pushing on ahead of whatever was driving them, a smaller, more vehement part, rebelled, and he stopped short, actually surprising _her_ enough that she staggered.

"I-are you _nuts?!_ " he demanded. "You expect me to run off and leave you?"

"No, I'm _telling_ you to run off and leave me," she retorted, turning to glare up at him. "By splitting into two groups, we can ascertain who's being followed more accurately, and plan accordingly. Plus, I don't want to lead whoever's following to the dryad. We _need_ their help, and we can't afford to freak them out."

"Yusuke and Raizen would _both_ murder me," Koenma retorted, folding his arms across his chest. "And that's just the top of the _list_. If you're staying put, I'm staying with you."

She blinked at him for a moment, then sighed, and ran her hands over her face.

"Fine... But if things start getting dicey, you _will_ be leaving. I'll have Jin haul you off if I have to," she warned. "You might be _threatened_ with murder, but we legitimately cannot afford to let anything happen to you."

The idea that he'd actually won what could have been a major disagreement threw him, but after a moment he nodded.

"Okay. Then we wait here and see what these... people might want," she said.

"Not the best place for a fight," Touya said quietly.

"I doubt we'll get a convenient clearing here," she retorted, waving a hand slightly. "Make do, Touya. We don't have much choice."

Touya's neutral expression indicated he wasn't really happy with the command, but he nodded a little and moved to stand in a position that Koenma presumed was between them and these mysterious followers. He was joined quickly by Jin and Kei, and they looked more than ready to attack or defend as needed. Momo moved in as well, half-huddling behind himself and Kimiko, who looked...

Koenma snuck a glance at his friend, and was surprised to realize that he thought she looked briefly afraid. It was quickly buried under a stiff posture that was more indicative of anger, of being ready to fight as it was necessary, but he was suddenly sure that she was only angry because she was scared.

His stomach sank a little; if _Kimiko_ was afraid, then maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all... But it was too late to take it back now, and really, what kind of friend _would_ he be if he'd left her in the lurch, not knowing whether she would be fine or not. Not to mention, he didn't really _know_ why they were visiting the dryad. It wouldn't make a good impression at _all_ if he didn't know the reason for the visit, even with Momo there to prompt him.

"Kei, has Tomou said anything helpful?" Kimiko asked, her voice tense.

"Lord Raizen is apparently in ill-humor about this," Kei replied, wincing a little. "He thinks your decision to stand and see is... a bad one, and he would rather you return to the palace."

"...of course he would," she muttered, sounding a little rebellious. "He's been told we're close to two hours into the forest, and it's a lot _wider_ than it is long, right?"

"He has a map, and he is snarling over that, yes," Kei said.

Kimiko's aggravated sigh was almost enough to make Koenma laugh. If everyone hadn't been so clearly unnerved, he might have.

"If he has an alternative, I'm open to it, but it needs to come _quick_."

Kei's silence was telling enough.

* * *

It took almost another hour for the energy signatures to catch up to them; since there wasn't much else to do while they waited, everyone had something to eat, since camp had been broken without taking time for that sort of consideration. Most of the food sat like a lead weight, but Kimiko knew from experience that nothing good came of entering a fight without _something_ in the stomach.

The energy, as it drew closer, _did_ start to feel vaguely familiar. It didn't feel like yoki, not really, no more than it felt like reiki... if she had to hazard a guess, it felt like the air just after she'd found a way to utilize the excess power she could get from the Blossom side of her.

Carefully she pushed past Kei, moving to stand outside the semi-circle of protection her friends had made; she was in charge, which meant that she needed to be the one to address this... whatever it was. Leaving Momo and Koenma protected by the other three—Koenma's attempt at following was stymied by Touya—she took a few steps down the path from them, and waited.

Three people simply... _appeared_ to normal sight, and it took a lot of effort to stomp on the desire to jump. She didn't _appreciate_ being startled like that.

"Who are you?" she demanded, hands clenched into fists as her sides. "Why are you following us?"

The three demons shared looks, allowing Kimiko to study them in the imperfect light; what she saw made her feel even _more_ uneasy about the wisdom of this plan.

The one who stood in the middle was deceptively small, maybe a handspan taller than Tensei, and looked the corresponding age. They also appeared to be made of obsidian, with crystal accents at neck, elbows, and ankles. Blue eyes, seeming quite literally to be sapphires, caught the light as they flicked from Kimiko to her companions, then focused on her exclusively, wide and unblinking.

To the left of the stone demon was one who was more what she was used to, albeit a very shocking shade of pink. A sleeveless robe bared arms that appeared to have spines jutting from elbow and wrist, silver-white horns curled back on her skull, almost lost in a nest of thick, curly hair that was a pale yellow. They were much taller than the middle demon, and Kimiko thought they were maybe the height of Kurama as he had been two decades before, if not a little taller. At first it seemed like this one was balanced and ready to fight, until they shifted, and Kimiko caught a glimpse of clawed, high-arched feet, and the tip of a tail. They at least _attempted_ to be friendly and disarming, offering a smile that managed to be both sweet and threatening at the same time.

The last was serpentine in appearance; they had a vaguely humanoid torso, and below the waist, a long tail. A sharp, almost crimson red was the main color, with dark blue patterning that surrounded a long, lightning-blue stripe down what Kimiko thought was the spine. Her mind identified the bright coloring as dangerous. Scaled from crown to tail tip, this demon's yellow eyes were as unblinking as the first one's, and their stare was just as fixed.

Kimiko felt rather like she was being sized up as a meal, and shifted her stance just slightly; all three how a level of power that was unreal at this close range, and she was forced to revise her estimate; they didn't just _match_ her father. They were beyond him, and they were only just showing it.

"If we wanted you dead, you would be," the pink demon said in a high, fluting voice. "You can breathe, little blossom."

"That doesn't answer my questions," Kimiko retorted. "Who are you and why are you following us?"

"You're like us," the middle demon said. Their voice was... strange. Too harsh in a way, but carrying an undertone of almost bell-like sound. "You came from a Blossom."

There was no mistaking the emphasis on the last word, and Kimiko had to bite her tongue to keep the fear-based anger from spilling over in a variety of curses.

"Who _are_ you, and _why_ are you _following_ us?" she said, struggling to keep her voice level.

"We are children of the Wish Blossom," the pink demon said, offering a smile again. Kimiko didn't trust it, _couldn't_ trust it. "We have been trying to contact you for some time, little blossom."

"Still not answering the questions."

"Sssstubborn child," the final demon said sibilantly. "We come to train your powersss."

"Okay, that _slightly_ answers one question, and not the relevant one," Kimiko shot back. "Names. Names are _far_ more useful than anything else."

The silence was not absolute as the three of them exchanged looks; at her back, she could hear the stirring of leaves that suggested Jin was preparing to blow right out of there if necessary, and she could feel an increase in chill that indicated Touya was also preparing for a fight. The fact that it was a fight none of them would _win_ was what had her unclenching a hand long enough to flick a slight gesture at them. She doubted they would _obey—_ they were both mated to their own brand of stubborn, after all—but it might buy her a few more minutes of time to see what she could learn.

"Very well, little blossom, if that is what you need," the pink demon said finally, with a small shrug. "I am called Adrya. This," and she gestured to the obsidian demon, "is Poretial, and Ahari is our final."

Poretial's grin was entirely composed of sharp, translucent teeth, and Kimiko caught Momo's very quiet squeak of fear at the sight. Ahari nodded their head slightly, though they offered no smile... which was probably for the best; one creepy smile was more than enough.

"And what is it that you want?"

"You are of us," was the serene reply. "To that end, we would require you to accompany us back to our enclave so that we might-"

"No."

This time the silence _was_ total. Kimiko folded her arms across her chest, wishing that she had _all_ her familiar backing; even if her father couldn't have taken them, his strength would have been a welcome comfort. Yusuke's bravado, and Hiei's brusqueness wouldn't have gone amiss either... and Kurama's steady patience would have eased her mind much faster.

"No?" Adrya's brow ridges went up.

"No," Kimiko repeated firmly. "I'm not going anywhere with you."

"You don't want training?" Poretial looked—and sounded—startled. "All other have!"

"Well I'm not all others," she retorted. "I'm busy. I've have duties and responsibilities, things I can't just walk away from on the say-so of some strangers. Besides which, you've been _remarkably_ unspecific about things, and I'm not inclined to go with people who are not specific."

Adrya and Ahari both looked annoyed by her statement, flicking looks to the group behind her; Kimiko shifted her stance just slightly.

"You hurt them, and I _definitely_ won't be going anywhere with you," she said softly.

She heard Momo squeak again, and Koenma hissed just slightly—he was the only one who would after all, with the other three being used to combat in some form.

"You would have secrets bandied about before people who know not?" Adrya raised an eyebrow.

"You don't know what they know," Kimiko retorted. "If you want a private meeting, it's not happening _here_."

"And where might it happen, lit-"

"My _name_ is Kimiko. I am the daughter of Toushin Raizen." It was rude to interrupt, but the condescension of being called 'little blossom' had hit that last nerve. "We can meet in Tourin palace, or you can get stuffed."

* * *

"Yusuke?" Kurama blinked at his friend in moderate surprise. "What brings you by?"

"Boredom," Yusuke replied with a shrug. "Also wondering when you're coming back."

"And you couldn't simply send a message?"

Yusuke grinned, and Kurama tried not to sigh.

"Faster to come myself. What're you doing, anyways?" Yusuke glanced around, raising an eyebrow. "And where the hell did all of them come from?"

This time Kurama _did_ sigh. Yusuke probably _meant_ well, but in truth, his presence was going to create a complication he didn't quite want or need. But there was no point in being rude about it, especially since he didn't actually _expect_ Yomi would be there for another day or so.

"These are some member of my old gang, whom Shats contacted," he replied. "Shats was the earthwalker I knew; they are currently out gathering more of their people to listen for us in Ningenkai... no one is quite willing, yet, to trust a portal to Reikai and listening in there."

"No kidding?" Yusuke stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked around curiously. "What're you gonna do with them?"

Kurama's smile was thin; some of them were bait, though he wasn't going to say as much just yet.

"Some will stay," he said, offering a faint shrug instead. "They followed me for a long while when I was a thief, and they are not fond of the choices made by my former second. I have not quite decided yet what they will be doing, but they will find ways to make themselves useful, I expect."

"Only some?"

Again, Kurama only offered a faint shrug.

"I no longer require thievery to get by. Some will end up going back to it. Not, of course, in my domain. That would be... foolish. But they will."

Yusuke stared at him for a long moment, then shook his head a little.

"So, any chance you'll be done here soon?"

"Possibly within the week. Why?"

"Couple reasons," and it was Yusuke's turn to shrug. "Sis isn't sleeping that well, for one. Pacifier breath's whining for another. Can't take a hit for crap."

"Perhaps if you actually tried to hold back?" Kurama suggested, chuckling a little.

"How's he gonna _learn_ to take a hit if I do that?" Yusuke argued.

Kurama shook his head slightly, amused, and admittedly feeling more relaxed than he had for the past few days. Yusuke's natural exuberance always did have an oddly soothing air too it.

"What else has been going on?"

Yusuke made a face.

"Sis decided to head out to Tiltras, and apparently Pops let her."

"Alone?" Kurama asked, eyebrows going up in surprise.

"Nah, but I'm not thrilled with the people she dragged with. I mean... Ningenkai's not _that_ threatening, but we're not _in_ Ningenkai, so..."

Kurama nodded his understanding, though he was fairly sure that Kimiko was well able to take care of herself and her own. She was the same brand of stubborn as Yusuke, after all.

"What happened to the dryad that made her decide to go to Tiltras now, instead of waiting for your return?"

"Apparently some Reikai assholes are going around trying to find the recently planted whatevers of the dryad and wrecking shit. Couple died, lots more are hurt."

"Ahh... I see why she would wish to address it sooner rather than later," he replied, nodding again. "While the dryad don't necessarily trust us, she might be able to get better results with a speedier response to their attacks."

"Yeah, maybe, but still. I don't like it," Yusuke grumbled.

"Who did she take?"

"Momo, cause Momo knows the dryad, and where they're at, Pops said take Koenma, and then she also dragged along Jin, Touya, and Kei."

Kurama tipped his head slightly, then nodded a little. While Momo and Koenma could arguably be considered liabilities in a fight, the other three were much less so.

"I'm surprised Amber didn't accompany them."

"Amber and Botan got back from whatever information gathering thing Sis sent them on in less than pristine condition, so they're chilling at home," and Yusuke shrugged slightly. "No point in me rushing out anywhere, you mind if we chill for a while? Tashi's a wuss."

Well, there would be no point in kicking him out right now anyways. And perhaps Yusuke's strength could be an asset to keeping Yomi from being _too_ reckless in his ire. So Kurama nodded a little and headed into the manor to show Yusuke and his small group of monks where they could settle in.

* * *

Koenma kept a safe distance back from Kimiko, as she strode through the forest, theoretically following Momo as the continued on their way to the dryad village. Her body language alone suggested that anyone who talked to her without proper caution was as likely to get snarled at as anything else, and he didn't really feel like agitating her further. It wasn't _anger_ that was making her lash out, not really... and he could sympathize with the brand of fear that was making her defensive.

The trio of terrifyingly powerful demons had considered her words for a few minutes, before turning away without further conversation. Kimiko had waited a full ten minutes after before she had turned as well and they had resumed their journey, her expression daring anyone to comment. Whatever questions they had—and _he_ certainly had some—everyone had swallowed them at her look.

Momo was staying ahead of Kimiko if only just, and Koenma found he couldn't blame her either; the least adept at fighting, the easiest to scare, it still confused him that Momo _wanted_ to live in Makai... even more that she wanted to stay in Tourin, and work at the palace. But she did, and she did, and if it didn't make sense to him, well, on _most_ days she seemed more than happy with the decision.

When the air changed subtly—gaining a scent of mint that seemed to ease the lines of tension in Kimiko's shoulders—Kimiko's stride slowed, her footsteps became lighter. Her tension didn't fully fade, but she became somewhat more approachable. The fact that it also appeared to be getting late—had they really walked the entire day in that tense silence?—seemed to help too.

"Ah... Kimiko?"

She glanced back, then stopped, one eyebrow going up. While he hadn't entirely meant for this to happen, he was glad of it; walking all day on only breakfast wasn't exactly the best feeling in the world.

"What?"

"What exactly _are_ we doing at the dryad village?" he asked.

"Reassurances, and discussion on how we might be able to help," she replied after a moment. "Your stance now means that you are going to have to find some promises of your own to make, and if you can help me come up with a way to convince them that we need to know where their trees are so we know what to protect, that'd be great."

There was still just a bit of bite in her tone, but compared to how snarly she'd sounded in the morning, he could take the small bite over the large one.

" _Can_ we offer any of that?" Koenma asked.

"Well, we can try," Kimiko shrugged a little, then sighed. "Are we very far from the village, Momo?"

"N... no. If we keep walking, we'll be there before it gets dark again," Momo replied hesitantly.

"All right. Let's keep going; if nothing else, maybe they'll be nice enough to put us up for the night, since the forest has been polite enough to not eat us."

She sounded rather like she needed a hug, but when he moved towards her, she simply turned and started walking again. It stung, but Koenma _tried_ not to take it personally.

He wasn't sure he succeeded, but he did try.

They walked for what he thought was another two hours; this time it was Momo who stopped.

"We're almost there," she said, her tone cautious. "But... I think I should go on ahead and let them know so that they're not... unfairly surprised."

"They're goin tae be surprised anyways," Jin pointed out, hands laced behind his head. "Nothin fair about it."

"Yes, I know, but..."

"It's fine," Kimiko said, raising a hand slightly. "You and Touya go on ahead, and we can wait here."

Momo gave her a grateful look, then turned and walked at an oblique angle from where they were standing, Touya following closely; Koenma lost sight of them almost immediately, and rubbed his eyes for a moment. Jin snickered at him.

"Peripheral field," the wind master said when Koenma glanced at him. "Botan's idea. Keeps the dryad unmolested by some of what's out here."

"Oh..."

Koenma rubbed the back of his neck as Jin turned to watch the way they'd come, joining the somewhat more paranoid Kei, then glanced over at Kimiko. She had decided to lean against one of the exceptionally large trees, arms crossed over her chest as she frowned at nothing. After a long minute, he moved over to lean near her, trying not to encroach on her space while offering what comfort he could by presence alone.

"...I don't really want them in Tourin either," she said after a few moments, her voice softer than usual. "But... what they said..."

"About being born from the Blossom?"

She nodded.

"You think they're like you?" he hazarded.

"Momo said the energy felt similar. I suspect the only reason there's differences between is because they've... mastered, in some way, the Blossom power, and I barely use mine. The idea that there's other people...like _me_..." She shook her head a little. "You know, I never really thought there was. I probably should have, but..."

"Well, how could you have known?" he asked, trying for a mix of practical and gentle. "As far as you knew, all the other Blossoms in existence were eradicated. And what little you _did_ know didn't indicate in any way what might happen if they weren't."

She sighed a little and nodded.

"I _do_ want to know how to use this," she said a little wistfully. "But right now I just have to much to do."

"...maybe dump some of it on Yusuke when we get back?" he advised with a small smile.

She snorted a little, amused.

"Hey... can I ask something?"

"You just did, but sure," she teased gently.

"Well... from the looks of things your father is in good health, and demon lifespans are..."

"Different for each species," she finished when Koenma trailed off. "Go on."

"Well, how's that going to work out for you or Yusuke?"

Kimiko blinked up at him, head tipping slightly. Koenma blushed a little, and rubbed the tip of his nose with a finger in embarrassment.

"...well, I don't know about Yusuke, but right now, the status quo seems to be good enough," she finally said. "Maybe at some point Yuu will get annoyed and go off to make his own territory, or Father will get bored and cede to Yusuke, and go off to make or do something else."

"And you?"

Her expression turned pensive.

"In part, that depends on Kurama. Kiltare is _his_ now, fully, officially, formally. I think he's... waiting on me to decide, really. I don't know how to feel about that, but I appreciate that he's letting me grow into the idea, instead of trying to throw me into it. Why?"

"I just... I started thinking the other day about my own father," he said, groping carefully for the words that would make sense. "I'm not even a century old, and he's well beyond that. Would he have kept me stamping papers for all of eternity? I can't say that he even _ages_..."

He tried not to scuff his shoe in the loam, reminding himself that he was supposed to act the age he looked, not that of a toddler who was pouting. So it surprised him a little when Kimiko's hand rested on his arm.

"There's entirely a good chance that it was his plan," she replied. "Humans do breed like rabbits, and they're always dying too. Didn't you say it was a never-ending cycle of work in your office?"

Koenma nodded a little.

"We can only speculate on what your father had in mind, Koenma. We don't know why he was framing demons, what he wants from humans, what he _thought_ he might get out of continued stalemate for the treaty, or even what a war between Reikai and Makai would do," she pointed out, all brisk practicality. "At this point, wondering is pointless. We just have to do what we can, as we can."

"Even if we don't know what that is?"

A brief grin flashed over her face, the first happy expression he'd seen out of her all day.

" _Especially_ because we don't know what that is. Relax. We'll figure it out. And while we might crash and burn for a while, we can always pick up the pieces and try again."

"...as it's not Yusuke or Hiei that does the crashing," he mumbled.

That, as he'd hoped it would, made her laugh.


	6. Six

Six

Yusuke was not necessarily the fastest person to awake in the mornings. Nor was he the most pleasant of people to be around until he _was_ awake, and could exert some control over his attitude. He didn't often choose to exert a _lot_ of control, but he tried some. Usually when it seemed like someone else was going to bite him for his manners, or lack thereof.

This day was a special brand of irritated... mostly because he was worried. When they were apart, they dreamshared. That was just a fact of life, and it was only severed when they were in different realms because of the time flow difference, and a bunch of other technical junk that basically boiled down to bullshit he didn't understand.

And he had not shared any dream with his sister.

That generally didn't mean anything bad; sometimes Kimiko didn't sleep for one reason or another... but it always left him feeling particularly anxious about her state of mind. It took a _lot_ to put her in a frame of mind where she didn't actually get the rest she needed. And she _did_ need it; she was much more human than he was.

"You seem... agitated this morning," Kurama said from where he sat across the table. "Did something happen last night?"

"No," Yusuke replied shortly. "That's the problem."

A red eyebrow went up.

"Kimiko was reticent on her travels?"

"She wasn't _there._ "

That drew the brow down, and concern flashed briefly across the redhead's face. It helped, but it also only made him more irritated. He couldn't offer a gods damned thing if he didn't have anything _to_ offer, and he'd actually been looking forward to telling Kimiko about what the hell was going on here in Kiltare!

"Tiltras is the old forest where the dryad live, yes?"

"Yeah. S'far as I know, anyways. Why?"

Kurama went silent for a moment, a thoughtful expression on his face that made Yusuke almost leery; the fox's mind was more on par with his father's than his own... In a way, this was good; it was nice to have people around that could plan beyond the next few minutes. But it was also a little unnerving at times. How _did_ they manage to think ten steps and some ahead without getting all tangled up in their own brain?

The fact that his sister could do it, sometimes, was pointedly ignored.

"I expect an unwelcome visitor in the next few days," he said finally. "I doubt Kimiko's stay will last that long, unfortunately, so if you would rather go to her than linger, I will understand."

"Whoa, what? Unwelcome visitor?"

Kurama nodded a little.

"At least three of my 'defectors' have had recent contact with my former second. I suspect he will be here shortly, and I doubt that the past two decades have actually mellowed him, so no doubt he will cause trouble and commotion. I intend to deal with it."

Up to this point, Yusuke had seen a lot of expressions from Kurama; affection, exasperation, annoyance, resignation... normal things like that. The cold mask now settling over his friend's face looked almost _wrong_ in some manner. True, sometimes there was no room for things like sympathy, or forgiveness, but still. It looked damn weird on Kurama's face.

"Deal with it how?" he asked, drawn in despite himself.

"That depends on Yomi."

The words were said so neutrally that Yusuke had to suppress a shudder. He half-suspected that Kurama was sitting on something far deeper than just anger, but it wasn't in him to pry.

"Need backup?"

Kurama's head tipped slightly.

"I would not object to your continued presence," and his voice smoothed out some. "No doubt Yomi's strength has grown, while mine is somewhat eclipsed and limited by the body I currently own. But if you feel the need to find Kimiko, I will not ask you to stay."

"Yeah, see, Sis would eat my liver if she thought I was leaving you in a not-strong position," Yusuke sighed a little. "Fuck..."

Kurama, the bastard, chuckled a little.

"She cares, and that I do appreciate, but I am not underpowered, simply limited in options. If nothing else, Hiei has volunteered to turn him to ashes for me."

That made Yusuke snicker. Hiei, a silent shadow up until that moment, snorted just slightly.

"I will speak to him first, and no doubt we will... discuss our grievances with one another. What comes after that," and Kurama shrugged slightly. "That depends on Yomi's temper."

"...I'll stick around. Probably not worth the effort to make a three day run to Tiltras... Knowing Sis, she'll be home way before then, so we'll be all good."

Kurama nodded slightly again, and smiled faintly. It had a bite to it, but it was marginally more friendly than the cold mask of earlier, so Yusuke smirked a little back.

"...the hell do you do to kill time around here, anyways?"

* * *

Kimiko hadn't slept; too many conflicting thoughts kept her awake long after she had heard the steady breathing of her friends, as the darkness had become total with the fall of night. It was disheartening in a way; no dreamscape visit, no chance to recover from the long march she had more or less imposed on the group, not chance to tell Yusuke what was going on or get his input.

But on the other hand, he would have over-reacted in a heartbeat, demanded she go home. And she couldn't _do_ that. The dryad needed to have their concerns addressed, and Koenma, as much as he tried, wasn't able to do that on his own. Not yet. She _knew_ how to be a leader, even if she didn't necessarily enjoy the task.

Her body had mostly recovered from the march, but her mind was still somewhat buzzing by the time dawn came and the dryad began to gather. She knew she was going to have to tread carefully; her temper would be shorter for lack of sleep.

There were a _lot_ of dryad. Some looked more like what she thought of as demon than apparition; skin more like bark, hair of leaves, vines, or flowers, no overt signs of gender. From what she'd noticed, apparitions tended towards humanistic form, if more oddly colored; Momo's hair, for example, was no natural human color. A few of them wore loose drapes of cloth, nothing like the layers of Nippon in Ningenkai, while others wore vines, leaves, or flowers. A few even wore nothing at all, something that caused her great amusement as Koenma choked a little.

Koenma looked somewhat out of his depth, and to be fair, the dryad were eyeing him with badly concealed hostility; no doubt if he'd been there alone, no one would have spoken to him at all. No one was speaking to him _now_ , as a matter of fact, but they weren't wholesale ignoring him. Going by his expression, he didn't seem to think being glared at was a good thing...

Her, they regarded with wariness, but also awe. While it hadn't been her hands that had freed them, they knew Kurama had come _because_ she had been almost trapped by King Enma. By dint of her presence in the Reikai palace, they had been granted their chance at freedom, and for a few of them, there was something akin to borderline worship in their faces.

Awe she could accept. Barely. Worship? Worship made her want to dig a hole and hide. She didn't deserve it, didn't want it... and damnit, she didn't have a choice in dealing with it at the moment.

Kimiko took in a breath, then let it out, pushing her discomfort away as best she could.

"Momo, I realize I failed to ask this before, but who do your people look to as a leader?"

Momo looked at her, then glanced around the gathered people. Most of them looked—to Kimiko's eye—no older than she did; in human terms, on the shy side of perhaps twenty. It was hard to pin age to a demon; apparently it was just as hard to pin leadership to a dryad.

"...You don't," Kimiko said after a long, weary moment.

"We've... never congregated like this," Momo admitted with a sheepish shrug. "We've lived so long with..."

Kimiko let out a tired sigh, and ran a hand over her hair.

"All right. In that case, it's you."

Maybe it was petty and mean to be amused at the way Momo's eyes went wide and her skin paled, but Kimiko could live with briefly being petty if it meant she could ask questions and get answers.

"B-but I-"

"Momo, you're the one I know best, and thus far, every interaction between our two groups has come from you. If you're not their leader, you're an ambassador, and right now, that's basically the same thing."

There was a ripple of sound that was almost laughter, if laughter sounded like the whispering of wind through the leaves. Momo looked at her people, then at Kimiko, and after a long moment of her own, hung her head and sighed. To one side, Jin snickered a little; Touya laid a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

"Everyone here has replanted their tree in places in Ningenkai?" Kimiko asked, addressing the gathered crowd at large.

A general murmur of agreement sounded, though wariness edged out the awe at the question.

"Do _any_ of you know how to fight?"

The silence was telling, and Kimiko restrained the urge to curse the world at large. This was going to be a very long day.

* * *

It was an education watching her. While he bore the brunt of suspicion and hostility, Kimiko found a way to insert herself into the crowd, pulling Momo with her, and leaving the four males of the group to stand on the outskirts and watch.

She didn't talk to all of them. Some of them recoiled at what she said—what it was, Koenma could only guess, because he couldn't actually hear her. But others listened, and they turned to work on their peers.

Koenma snuck a glance at Kei, who was watching with arms folded across his chest, occasionally nodding. On his other side, Jin had his hands folded behind his head and looked somewhere between interested and bored; only Touya had a perfectly calm and unreadable expression.

"...what's she doing?" he finally asked.

"Looks like she's settin up a kingdom," Jin offered with a grin. "Tappin people tae help with the hard parts."

Touya nodded slightly, almost imperceptibly, while Kei snorted.

"A group like this requires a strong leader," he said, with just a hint of contempt in his tone. "She is doing what she has trained _to_ do, which is lead. If her way is not as militaristic as Lord Raizen's or Lord Yusuke's, it still gets the job done. It is doubtful that Momo will retain more than title of ambassador by the time she's done."

Unsaid, but heavily implied in the look Kei threw at him, was that he thought Koenma should be in there too. Koenma sat on his first reaction, which was scathing sarcasm; these people had no reason to trust him and _every_ reason to hate him.

But... didn't they also have little reason to actually trust Kimiko? She seemed to be working through that, so he had no excuse to sit back here and do nothing.

With a sigh, he started nudging his way into the crowd until he was standing a little back from Kimiko, who glanced at him but otherwise didn't acknowledge him; she was in the middle of talking to a dryad that sported a crown of white flowers in place of hair.

"-a census would be helpful," Kimiko was saying. "Hard information on how many dryad live here, what type of plant they are, and their skills will take some time, but a base number will give us a place to start."

"And you cannot simply tell?"

Kimiko raised one shoulder, a small, wry grin crossing her face.

"I'm not necessarily species conversant. Nor do we have access to any records King Enma might have kept."

"...you have his sprout."

Koenma blinked, then hung his head a little as Kimiko very visibly bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"Yes, but his sprout is on our side, not his father's," and _now_ Kimiko reached back to grab Koenma by the wrist and pull him forward. "Which unfortunately means, still, that we have no idea how many of you there are, or what type."

The blossom-haired dryad gave Koenma an unfriendly look; for his part, he did his best to look like he wasn't uncomfortable to suddenly be the center of attention.

"And what can his sprout offer us that would make us more willing to collect this?"

Koenma's brain froze, and he glanced a little helplessly at Kimiko. For her part, she offered him a very slight shrug and a raised eyebrow; she had anticipated the question, while he had still been trying to pretend it had nothing to do with him.

He had to stop doing that.

Koenma let out a slow breath.

"Well, for one thing, I don't want to offer you the dubious 'protection' my father was offering," he said after a moment. "If you want to help, to work with us, you'd be able to reside wherever you felt happiest and most comfortable. A census like K... like Lady Kimiko is suggesting," Oh, her eyes had narrowed with his correction. He was going to get it for that one later, "is really just about knowing how many people are here, and want to live here in Tiltras. We can't even really begin to think about how to help with the Reikai soldiers until we have that information in hand."

Annoyed or not, he watched a little bit of amusement flicker across Kimiko's face out of the corner of his eye, and tried not to let out a relieved breath. The dryad before him pursed her lips briefly, then turned back to Kimiko.

Kimiko, for her part, offered a slight shrug.

"He is right. Coercion is a shitty way to get cooperation, and it's low on my list of priorities. We're trying to _help_ you build new life again, not take it away. To that end, we're not asking you where the replanted trees are. We're just asking you how _many_ there are. From there, we can break it down into who wants to learn how to fight, and who doesn't."

Koenma slanted her a look; _they_ got a choice in the matter?

She ignored him, but Momo caught his look, and shared a knowing one in return; neither he, nor Momo, had been given that option, but there were, apparently, mitigating circumstances for the dryad.

"And if none choose to fight?"

"Well, then you'll have to figure out how you want us to protect you," Koenma said, feeling suddenly, briefly, irritated. "Because either you learn to defend yourselves, or you ask the demons for that help. _I_ can't call off my father's men, especially not right now. Even if I went back and tried to claim that I was released, or I came to my senses, I still wouldn't have that authority."

"Apagne, I trust Lady Kimiko," Momo interjected gingerly. "Lord Koenma as well. He is not his sire any more than any of us are the seeds of our fellows."

Apagne seemed unconvinced, and after a moment, Kimiko lightly shrugged and turned to another dryad who had been listening.

"It's been almost eight months. Your numbers haven't grown by leaps and bounds. We need to know how many of you are in Tiltras, and who is willing to be subject to training."

This one had a head of moss and vines, and a body that seemed modeled after a sumo wrestler; they also had a calmer expression than Apagne, who seemed annoyed to be summarily dismissed by Kimiko. Koenma watched briefly, worriedly wondering if this was the right way to go about things...

"We must discuss," the second dryad said.

"Discuss fast," Kimiko suggested, her tone just on the side of too sweet that Koenma knew meant her temper was bubbling. "We need a decision sooner rather than later."

She moved to the edge of the crowd, and Koenma trailed behind, though Momo elected to remain in the center. She looked, to Keonma's eyes, nervous about the idea of being In Charge, but also somehow accepting. As if she, like him, would be willing to grow properly into the position, if they managed to make it past the current flood of crises.

Koenma trailed Kimiko until she flopped down on a log and ran her hands over her face. Hesitantly he joined her, resting his elbows on his knees.

"We could get Kurama in on this?" he said after a moment.

"If he wasn't at least a week's journey away, I'd jump on that idea in a heartbeat," she said a little wryly. "And not just because I'd like to see him; if they're in awe of me, they undoubtedly revere him. _He's_ the one that actually broke their bindings."

"Do you think they'll agree?"

She shrugged.

"It'd be nice. I hadn't realized how disorganized they were..."

"To be fair, you've... had a lot of other things on your mind," he pointed out, pretending not to notice as Kei moved up behind Kimiko. "Maybe too many."

"If that's your subtle way of saying I'm overworked, yes, I know. By all rights, this particular problem should be in your lap, not mine."

He winced a little, but couldn't find it in him to disagree. And he _had_ to stop leaning on her, expecting her to lay things out so clear and concise. He had impulsively become a treaty diplomat because he wanted to _do_ something. Well, now it was time to do _more_.

He started to push himself up, then stopped when she caught his elbow.

"It _should_ , but it's not," she continued as he settled back on the log. "Because really, there's not much either one of us can offer them until they know what they want."

"Then... we're waiting to see what that is?"

She smiled a little, nodding, and the hint of pride made him feel like he'd finally done something right.

* * *

"So, you and Yomi were at odds before everything went to shit?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama nodded.

"When we first joined forces, he was not as reckless, but as time went on, his temper and inability to plan began to... interfere with the work I was doing," the redhead said carefully. "I prefer to have as much knowledge as possible when it comes to... everything. Yomi is more like yourself, but with less skill and luck."

"Hey!"

Kurama grinned slightly; he couldn't quite help it. Yusuke's outrage was all for show, and they both knew it. It also helped to distract from the concern he felt over Kimiko's non-appearance in Yusuke's sleep, something that was atypical at best. He could tell Yusuke was bothered by it as well, but determined to not mention it... because that was how Yusuke handled that sort of thing, really.

"It was coming to a head by the time Satori lured him to the tower," Kurama continued, amusement fading as ire bubbled up. "I allowed myself to believe that perhaps he was only sulking, and it carried grave consequences. I am... not displeased he survived. I am, however, annoyed that he will likely be coming here to see what he might gain."

"What're you gonna do about it?"

"As I said, that will depend on Yomi's decisions. If he forces my hand, it will be unpleasant for him."

Revenge was not necessarily a path he wanted to embrace... but beating Yomi down had its appeal. Whether Yomi accepted the defeat or pushed until the end, Kurama was not certain. Would two decades of being blind have changed him enough to be even remotely reasonable, or would he remain the impetuous demon he had been before?

Yusuke scratched his head briefly, looking somewhere between irritated and confused.

"Why're you letting him come _here_?" he finally asked. "I mean, yeah, we can kick his ass and all, but I wouldn't think you'd want him in this area."

Kurama's smile was brief and thin; at least two familiar signatures were hovering around the exterior doors, thinking, perhaps that they were well-hidden. They were not, and he was not about to give away the reason he was willing to welcome Yomi onto the grounds of his castle.

"I have my reasons," he replied calmly. "If anything, I'd like him to hurry so that perhaps we can return to Tourin and provide Kimiko with some aid."

"I'm not doin paperwork," Yusuke immediately said.

Kurama favored his friend with an arch look, and after a minute, Yusuke grimaced.

"Okay, fine, I'll do _my_ paperwork," he grumbled.

"I'm sure your sister will be pleased to hear that. Hopefully a trip to Ningenkai can also finally be realized. We could all use something of a break after this."

Yusuke snorted a little.

"Optimist."

* * *

For all she'd told them to decide quickly, it took most of the day before there was any sort of agreement. Kimiko had ended up taking a much-needed nap in the small lean-to that they'd been loaned the night before, leaving Koenma to his own devices. When she emerged in late afternoon, she was surprised to see that he was surrounded by a number of dryad, and they didn't look at all like they wanted to plant him head first in the ground. They didn't seem to be teasing him, but they _did_ seem to be listening with interest. It made her wonder what he was telling them, but not enough to go over and interfere.

She was pleased to see it though, after the surprise faded. Koenma had the ability to be a good leader, he just needed to be kicked every now and again to be less passive.

When Momo approached her, she refocused her attention, tipping her head curiously.

"It's going to take a few days, my lady, before everyone's checked in, but there's already a handful of willow and oak dryad that think they'd be willing to learn how to fight. Some... some of us were already trained by King Enma."

Kimiko raised an eyebrow and Momo flushed.

"They don't mind being protectors of _their_ trees, but the training wasn't... well, it didn't really... that is..."

Momo fumbled with the words until Kimiko nodded a little, fairly sure she understood the problem.

"It didn't necessarily foster a sense of camaraderie with their fellows?"

"Well, if those fellows were the other soldiers in King Enma's army..."

Kimiko half-smiled, nodding again.

"Well, no one _has_ to fight, but it would be good for everyone to learn at least a little because I doubt that you lot have planted your trees in exceptionally close proximity to one another. The more who know how to defend their saplings, the better. Unless there _are_ whole groves of dryad trees?"

"Well... No," Momo admitted. "But the other idea that seems to give some hope is taking the saplings out of Nippon, which seems to be King Enma's favored contested area right now. Ningenkai isn't as large as Makai, but there's more places that might be less hostile."

"That could work too," Kimiko said thoughtfully.

"...I reminded them that even if they did replant their trees again, you argued with Lord Raizen to give us this space in Makai, so we at least need to _try_ and help," Momo said. "Technically, we're beholden to him and you. I think enough agree that we should be able to get a mostly accurate census within the next few days."

"So, you'll need to stay here to get that, and the rest of us—barring... mmm... Jin? He travels faster in flight than we do walking—will head back to Tourin and wait."

Momo lost about three inches of height; it really was _mean_ to be amused by the reaction, but Kimiko couldn't quite help herself.

The plain fact was that they dryad needed a leader, and Momo was logically the best choice, just based on familiarity with Makai and how to live in the world.

"Not that we're leaving right now," Kimiko added, glancing in Koenma's direction; the crowd around him had grown, and there were apprehensive faces in it now. She was almost _positive_ she knew what he was talking about, and figured it couldn't hurt to let him finish. "We can leave in the morning, and that way we're not caught in the middle of semi-hostile territory at nightfall."

Momo nodded a little, then looked around again.

"...maybe, since you're staying here we could... also talk to some of my people about the things they need to make this place more livable?" she asked hesitantly.

Kimiko grinned a little.

"Sure, I can do that."

* * *

Kurama watched idly as Yusuke and Hiei flickered back and forth in the training yard, coming together for brief moments that caused a staccato echo of blows to ring out. He wasn't the only one watching of course; the skill they were displaying had drawn most of the would-be transplants, and his two spies, to the area.

He flicked a glance over the awed and somewhat intimidated faces; most of them had never thought to meet Lord Raizen, let alone the boy considered to be his heir. The fact that they understood Yusuke was there as a friend was a good indication of who would be staying, and who would leave.

Also who was suddenly rethinking their plans, though by now it was far too late. Kurama had begun to sense the trailing threads of Yomi's energy as the sun had started setting, and he expected Yomi would either be there in the dark of night, or with the dawn. Sleep was unlikely to come this night because of that, and he had already quietly informed his two friends of what he expected.

This was as much a threat as it was practice, and Kurama found himself smiling faintly at the thought, if also a little bitterly. He had come to moderate terms at the idea that he wouldn't ever regain the form of old, but the fact that he lacked the power still... chafed. There had to be a way to regain that power, without discarding the life he currently was enjoying.

Maybe once the current trials were done and over with he could see about actually taking time to peruse Raizen's library. Or, if he ran out of options, _carefully_ broaching the subject with Kimiko. It still slightly stung, even after seven months, that she had worried he was only there for her own strange powers.

In feigned inattention, he ran his fingers through one of the small pots of seeds he had been 'sorting' as he watched the match, feeling the life that waited within. Most of the seeds were from Ningenkai, but a few pots carried Makai seeds that could, in a pinch, be used as needed. He wasn't sure he had the power to control them once they sprouted, so they were last resort seeds...

But it was good to have them anyways.

There was a collective wince as Yusuke actually landed a hit on Hiei, knocking him over halfway across the distance to the exterior wall, and then murmurs of surprise and a bit of awe as Hiei simply righted himself and zipped back into the match. Kurama shook his head slightly, amused; now they were both just showing off.

The match, as it was, ended with the arrival of full darkness, and Yusuke looked at least a _little_ calmer by the time they'd cleaned up. He'd been antsy all day, and Kurama really couldn't blame him; Yusuke was used to always having something physical to do, but Kiltare currently couldn't provide the sort of activity Yusuke enjoyed. There was, of course, plenty of _repair_ work to do, but they had all learned early on that Yusuke and carpentry didn't work well together.

"How much longer you think it's gonna be?"

"If he's not here by midnight, I expect dawn," Kurama replied with a slight shrug. "I can sense him now, that much is certain; Yomi, it seems, is not terribly keen on stealth."

Yusuke made a face, and Kurama chuckled a little in understanding. Without being familiar with an energy signature, it was harder to pick out amidst the background of everyone else. Which was why Kurama could sense Yomi, but Yusuke could not.

"Man, how the hell are you so _calm_ about this?" Yusuke demanded as he grabbed a bowl of food and plopped down at the table. "And why let him come here, anyways?"

"Here, I have the strategic advantage," Kurama replied, picking up his own bowl. "Many of my personal defenses are already in place, and I have learned the layout sufficiently enough that I will not be drawn into blind corners or traps. In contrast, Yomi will know only what his two spies can transmit to him, assuming they can tell him anything at all at this juncture."

"Yeah, okay, but just... waiting?"

"I am choosing the place. If Yomi is slow, that is his fault," and the nonchalant answer made Yusuke choke, which made Kurama smile wryly. Hiei only snorted from his place against the wall, eating in silence. "I am patient enough to wait for him to arrive. What happens after will depend upon his actions, or lack thereof. If he shows more wisdom than I expect, that would be welcome. If he shows precisely what I anticipate, well, I will not be shocked."

Yusuke sniggered a little, and seemed satisfied enough with that answer to devour his food.

"Few hours to kill at any rate. Mind if I walk around your walls or somethin?"

"By all means," Kurama said with a slight tilt of his head.

Truth be told, Yusuke's excitement over the prospect of a fight was as exhausting as it was amusing. Yusuke _liked_ to fight, and lived for the fight, for pitting himself against the strongest contenders. It was, Kurama privately thought, why he stayed within Tourin; Lord Raizen was the strongest _visible_ lord of Makai, and while Yusuke continued to gain in strength and ability, Raizen remained ever above him.

Kurama preferred a more methodical approach to his fights, and while he could certainly adjust his plans on the fly as needed, the less he needed to adjust, the more contented he would feel. So while the _idea_ of siccing Yusuke on Yomi was entertaining, the actuality of it remained the same. Yomi was _his_ problem, not Yusuke's, to confront.

And Kurama was ready to confront him. He just had to bide his time until Yomi arrived.

* * *

"You were making friends, hm?"

Koenma glanced up as Kimiko wandered over, and smiled a little sheepishly.

"Momo told them I'd been trained to defend myself by you, and they asked questions. I didn't mean to get quite that detailed..."

"Horror stories," she teased, handing him a cup of water. "I've had at least a dozen dryad come up and ask me how I'd be able to train them all."

He decided silence was the better part of valor, and drank the water. She gave him a knowing smile as she leaned lightly against the tree, her gaze focused on the still gathered dryad.

"Truthfully, it's not that difficult of a prospect. Jin and Touya would make decent enough teachers, and I'm sure Father's friends would know a few people that would be good at it took. The main difficulty here would be making a space big enough that training would be possible. They are _very_ adamant about not moving the greenery unless there's no other option."

"So... the village may need to move?" he hazarded.

"Bingo. I expect there's at least one natural clearing in the forest, if not more. Finding it will probably take more time than completing the census, but there is, if nothing else, the basics of a plan being worked out."

He nodded a little, watching as dryad broke into groups, their mingling voices sounding much more like rattling tree branches and rustling leaves than what he was used to hearing as speech. He _thought_ he could pick out an individual voice here and there, but there were so many people here that he couldn't actually say for certain.

"Do you think there's much more we can do?" he asked after a moment.

"Not really. I'm going to leave Momo and Jin here to gather the relevant information, and we'll take Touya and Kei with us when we leave in the morning. Unless you wanted to stay put?"

"...nnnooo, I think I'd rather go back with you," he said, slanting her a glance as she smirked a little at him. "I prefer stout palace walls to open-air and thin boards of protection."

She laughed at him, but gently.

"You sound like Yusuke~"

"Hey!" Koenma pushed her lightly, mock-offended. "I'm not _that_ difficult."

"That, my friend, depends _entirely_ on who you talk to."

Koenma snorted a little, and pushed her again.

* * *

Kurama liked to cook. As a human, it was a necessary skill, no matter where he lived or who he lived with. Blending the right ingredients to make a stimulant that wouldn't produce a painful crash into immediate exhaustion after it wore off with still something of a work in progress, but it always started with one simple thing.

Tea.

Yusuke had left the walls almost an hour ago, out of nothing more than sheer boredom; Kurama tried to avoid being amused and failed, knowing full well that his friend was spoiling for a fight of some kind, in part because of the lack of connection with his sister the night before. That he was now passed out suggested that he was possibly hoping that she would see him this night instead.

In a way, Kurama rather envied them that connection. Together while physically apart, able to keep each other in the loop about anything that came up... It was moderately tantalizing, even if he knew it was a factor of them being twins, and there was no exterior way—well, not one that wasn't painful—that would grant him that same ability.

Methodically, Kurama added a pinch of a Makai-based plant to the pot of tea he was making; in great doses it was poisonous, but in small amounts, it was a useful stimulant. It also added a faintly spicy scent to the brew, suggesting heat and a light element of danger.

He didn't necessarily enjoy staying up all night to make sure that Yomi wouldn't take him by surprise, but he preferred that to having someone else encounter his former second first. Yomi's energy hadn't flagged from what he could sense... was it calculation or recklessness that drove the man now? He could remember Yomi needing much less sleep than some of the lesser rank and file. It was almost a pity.

But then, perhaps rushing in was Yomi's attempt to put him off his guard?

Mentally, Kurama shrugged, then moved to gather up the cups as the tea steeped. Whether with midnight or the dawn, he was willing to wait Yomi out. They had unfinished business to resolve.

* * *

The unfamiliar energy signature yanked Yusuke out of his fruitless sleep the minute it hit the top wall, and not just because it was flaring in challenge. While Kurama's alarms might be more subtle than those at Tourin, he still _had_ them, and they were still obnoxious.

"Yusuke."

While he was more than ready to go and wallop the person who had woken him up—he hadn't seen anything more interesting than a few bizarre dreams, damnit, was Kimiko just not _sleeping?—_ Hiei's tone demanded attention.

Said demon was lounging almost casually against the wall; only his crimson eyes were focused on Yusuke.

"This is Kurama's fight. Let him handle it."

Yusuke bared his teeth slightly in annoyance.

"What the hell, man, I thought he was your friend!"

Hiei shrugged, the calm indifference not shifting even slightly.

"He's conniving and crafty. He _won't_ need the help."

Irritably half-awake or not, Yusuke knew full well that Hiei hated to waste words. He was also, for some _ungodly reason_ , one of the best at assessing others strengths and weaknesses. He might be scornful about it, and speak bluntly without seeming to care about their reactions, but more often than not, he was also _right_.

It was a straight up pain in the ass to acknowledge, but Yusuke did so. Reluctantly.

"Fine. But I'm still going to watch."

At this, Hiei shrugged and pushed off the wall, gliding easily ahead of his taller companion as they both headed down the hall.

* * *

Kurama's patience had always outweighed Yomi's stubbornness. He knew Yomi was on the walls; the alarms had been mostly for his friends, presuming they hadn't already sensed the intrusion. Yomi was not being subtle, but then, subtle had never been a strong point for him.

Hiei and Yusuke joined him first, Yusuke looking more like he wanted to punch someone through the thick interior walls than listen to them talk. Hiei had an inscrutable look on his face, but the anticipation was there in his eyes, and his scent. Yusuke flopped into a seated position against the wall next to the door they'd walked through, arms crossed over his chest, positively _radiating_ bad temper. In its own way, a comfort, though he rather hoped Yomi wouldn't try it.

Hiei leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the door; they both bracketed Kurama, clearly signifying in their own ways that they were his allies, on his side, and wouldn't hesitate to join in on a potential fracas.

Kurama felt just slightly more at ease with their presences, though he eyed Yusuke for a long minute, before mentally shrugging and taking a sip of his tea.

Yomi's energy stayed at the top of the wall for a good twenty minutes, during which Yusuke's temper calmed—as everyone knew, he didn't actually stay angry for very long, the emotion being relatively exhausting to maintain—and he even deigned to swipe a cup of tea and a plate of snacks to kill time.

"You could go to him, kick his ass off the wall."

Kurama's smile was thin as he reached back to give Hiei a cup of tea. The shorter demon accepted it wordlessly, though his other hand remained pointedly on the hilt of his sword.

"This way will provide more amusement," he replied serenely. "Caution was never Yomi's watchword. I wanted to see if that had changed."

As if hearing the implied insult—and Kurama couldn't be certain he hadn't—Yomi's energy dropped from the wall to the interior courtyard.

It was tempting, briefly, to wake the plants that had been sown there, to let Yomi vent his energy on them, until he was too tired to throw a blast. But that would cause damage and harm to the plants, and frankly, Kurama didn't have enough energy to spare to throw around so flagrantly. So Yomi's approach was unimpeded by plants.

It was _not_ uninterrupted by people. Two energy signatures joined Yomi, halting his progress briefly; Kurama, able to see Yusuke if he turned, watched his friend's brows draw together with an almost audible click of irritation. Or perhaps that was his jaw grinding in frustration.

"Can I hurt _them_?"

"No. I knew Yomi had spies. I expected them. Other than providing information, they had not actually done anything worthy of a beating. Mind, if they do not _leave_ after Yomi, then it will not matter too much what happens to them."

Yusuke relaxed a little; implied promise of a fight was enough to calm him, at least. A glance in the other direction showed Hiei looking bored, which was to be expected. Hiei had been witness to everything else thus far, and was no more inclined to get involved without request than he had been to out himself to Yukina.

The fact that it had happened regardless was still heavily amusing.

Yomi's energy moved on after a further five minutes in which Yusuke had finished his food and tea both, and headed straight for the room they were in. The door slid open with a loud crack that was undoubtedly meant to be intimidating, and Kurama's former second stepped into the room.

His eyes were closed, and he had a pair of ears budding both above and below his current pair; compensation for the blindness he had earned at Satori's claws. For a brief moment, Kurama felt a sharp, bitter resentment; Yomi had remain alive, if blinded. He had 'died' and been forced to grow up all over again.

"Yomi," he said softly, allowing none of his ire to leak into his voice. "Please, join us for tea. I've been waiting."


	7. Seven

Seven

"We could always try to fly out to them," Botan said.

"And do what?" Amber replied sensibly. "Everyone will be back by tomorrow afternoon at the latest, and from what Tomou's reported, there's been very little trouble."

"But what about those three strange people?"

"If they haven't shown up here, per Lady Kimiko's demand, I suspect they won't, and that is also _not_ our business."

Botan looked surprised at Amber's flat tone, and the demon sighed a little.

"Lady Kimiko has a very unique gift, that does not come from either her human mother, or Lord Raizen," she said, picking her words carefully. "Because of its unique nature, she has struggled to understand more than the basics of it. It is not a gift she wants bandied about because the level of trouble it could cause is very high. Therefore, it is not a topic of discussion with anyone _but_ Lady Kimiko."

She knew only a little more herself, and while it made her curious, she was not about to rouse Lord Raizen's temper. While he _seemed_ to be relaxing on how protective he was, that could all change the minute his children were put into true danger. And nothing was more dangerous than a half-understood power that people would want.

"I know you're worried," Amber continued, lightly patting Botan's shoulder. "But we were left here because we needed to rest and heal. I believe they'll come to no harm, and we'll see them soon. And if I'm wrong, we'll know soon enough. Now. It's late. You've been fretting. Go to bed."

* * *

Yomi remained in the doorway, his face a mask of impatience. Kurama did not bother to stand, only waited, feeling the tension of the two friends at his back. They were more than ready to spring to his defense as needed... hopefully, it wouldn't be.

"I don't want your tea," Yomi said shortly, his voice tight with what sounded like suppressed anger.

"A pity. I worked hard on it."

It was petty to bait him like this to be sure, but Kurama was not feeling like being obliging to the storm of temper before him. Staying calm in the face of such ire was the best, fastest way to get Yomi's mouth to work faster than his brain. Detrimental in many cases, but in this one, it could only prove to be helpful.

It was also amusing to see just how long it would take for Yomi to snap.

Kurama sipped his tea calmly, watching Yomi struggle briefly before stomping over; it was interesting to see that he didn't trip over the few obstacles in the way, and a small part of him wondered how he was doing that. His aura, perhaps?

No matter. Once he had found the cushion and all but thrown himself down onto it, Kurama nodded slightly, a thin smile on his face.

"What brings you into my territory? Unfinished business, perhaps?"

"Where the hell have you been?!" Yomi demanded. "You just abandoned the group with no word or warning for twenty years, and now you've come back and expect everything to be the same?! _I_ had to take over, and more than half of what I've got left is worthless! And then when you turn up, you _only_ call for Shats, you're a favorite of Raizen's rescued daughter, _and_ you have all this?!"

He swept his arm across the table, a move that knocked over the teacup and dashed several—empty—plates to the tatami. Two broke, having crashed into one another, the rest bounced or rolled.

Kurama sighed lightly, unimpressed by the outburst, and simply poured himself another cup of tea.

"What failings you have as leader are no fault of mine," he pointed out, voice cold. "Nor do I owe you any explanations after you so fatally ruined that rescue attempt. Where I went, what I did, are also no concern of yours, as _you_ are no longer a concern of mine except in one very specific way."

Yomi was half-off his cushion, plainly ready to try and grab Kurama; he didn't get the chance to move more than an inch over the table before Hiei was there, blade out, edge lightly pressed against one of Yomi's ears.

"Try it," he invited. "You've already lost your sight, we can make you lose so much more before you die."

"Hiei," Kurama sighed a little.

Yomi settled unwillingly back onto the cushion, and Hiei stepped out of reach. Behind him, Kurama heard Yusuke snicker, and shook his head a little in resigned amusement. Half the point of these two being here was to get moments like that, of course... but he hadn't quite thought it would happen so soon.

"Ah, forgive me lack of manners. The one that just threatened you is Hiei, and behind me, the laughing one, is Yusuke."

Yomi's facade of bravado wavered for a moment, then the scowl returned full force.

"You've made powerful allies. Do they know how often you leave people in the dust?"

"Dude, if you got left in the dust, that's your own damn fault," Yusuke shot back. "If you can't find a way to work _with_ someone smarter than you, you're a fucking dumbass."

Coming from Yusuke, that was almost ironic, but then, Kurama knew that Yusuke considered his sister to be the smart one of the pair. Actually, so did almost everyone, except maybe Kimiko herself. Yusuke was a far cry from eloquent, but he made the point well enough that Kurama smiled a little, nodding slightly.

"You forget, Yomi, that I started with nothing. I earned every bitter, broken step. What I have now," Kurama shrugged lightly, taking a sip of his tea. "I earned all of this as well, through a great deal of effort of a different sort."

"And you didn't think to regather the group and let them in on it?!"

"If by 'the group' you refer to yourself, no. We were a band of thieves, but here, there is nothing to steal. Only those who can adjust will be welcome, and you, not at all."

The silence that descended was thunderous.

* * *

"Can't sleep?"

Kimiko blinked and looked up as Touya melted out of the shadows; she had been peripherally aware of his presence for several minutes, and offered a shrug after a moment.

"Probably could, don't want to. I'm avoiding my brother."

Touya cocked his head slightly, curious, and she smiled wryly; it _was_ a bit of an oddity, and she knew it.

"I don't know that I want to talk to him until I've decided what I should say about those strange people we met on the way here," she admitted. "He may not always _act_ it, but Yuu's pretty perceptive on when I'm not saying something. And... well, this is probably the first time it could be argued to be my problem alone."

"You want a chance to go over all your options before inviting in other ideas."

Kimiko smiled a little, and nodded.

"Pretty much. _Everyone_ is going to offer their opinion on what I ought to do at some point, and I won't discount them, but I want to have it to myself for a bit more."

In truth, she knew what she was likely to end up doing; once the fighting between Makai and Reikai was done—inasmuch as it _could_ be done—she was going to have to find those people again. If they could offer training, insight to this strange power that she still only half-understood, she wanted it. _Needed_ it.

The trick there would be going alone, and for that, she was going to need to muster every argument she could.

"Do you think those people will turn up at Tourin?"

Kimiko shrugged lightly.

"I don't know. It might make things simple, it might make them more complicated. I may have offended them by getting all antagonistic and they might have gone back to wherever their lands are. I'd be sorry about that, except I'm not. The timing was... _is_ terrible."

Touya nodded, and half-turned away as a sound caught his attention. Kimiko stayed quiet while he assessed it, then dismissed it as nonthreatening. Given that they were on the edge of the village, it was understandable that he'd be slightly more on edge.

"For a forest within Makai, this one is surprisingly benign," he said after another moment.

She chuckled a little, recognizing that he was changing the subject for her benefit, and nodded.

"Honestly, I expected most of the dryad would head to and stay in Ningenkai," she admitted. "After their... 'care' at King Enma's hands, it wouldn't have been at all surprising if they'd decided to avoid anyone that wasn't their own kind."

"Well, trees do grown in concert," he said after a moment. "And even as much as demons fight one another, they also seem to do better in groups than on their own. Given that, it's probably more dangerous to live in Ningenkai alone than it is to leave a harmless sapling to grow and come find sanctuary in a realm of fighters."

Kimiko grinned a little, unable to argue the point and not really wanting to. While a few people were more comfortable on their own, on a whole, people were naturally drawn to one another. Strength in numbers was not solely a human thing. They just tended to be _louder_ about it.

"You and Jin have been here before with Momo, yeah? Is what they have now an improvement on how it looked at the start?"

Touya tipped his head slightly, then half-shrugged with a wry smile.

"They seem very stubborn about not wanting better shelter, though I suppose that's mostly because they're as much the trees as they are the bodies they have," he said. "If we could get stone out here, or someone who could shape the wood without killing it, they might manage a little better. I can't tell if they need food or not... Momo eats on a regular basis, but if they're getting food from somewhere, it's not here in Makai."

"They certainly don't seem to require clothing," and she snickered a little. "For a bit there, I thought Koenma's brain would explode."

Touya coughed slightly, hiding a smile of his own. It might even have gone unnoticed if Kimiko hadn't been trying to deliberately provoke that reaction.

"He's used to... clothed apparitions. And since arriving here, he hasn't been subjected to any demons who don't wear _something._ "

Which was certainly true. Everyone in Tourin wore clothes; or at least the minimum requirement of cloth that covered necessary bits. Even the visitors seemed to conform to that, save the ones that didn't have overt signs of genitalia.

"Lord Raizen's suggestion to bring him along was a good one," he continued after a moment when her snickering had faded. "He's seemed to be... floundering about these past few weeks, trying to pin down his place."

Kimiko nodded a little.

"He's finally made his decision, and now he's gotten to see some of the reason why it's so necessary," she said with a pleased smile. "Once we get back to Tourin, that's when the real work can finally begin."

* * *

It was almost painfully stressful, watching this meeting without actually being able to interfere. Yusuke wasn't as good as Hiei about feigning boredom, not with Yomi's aura crackling in the air like he was more than ready to have a no-holds-barred brawl.

But there was something _chilling_ about the way Kurama kept his cool, setting his cup down on the table with a tap that almost seemed to echo.

"You challenged and threatened my lead one to many times before I left," Kurama said, his voice icy. "No doubt you blame me for the injury and disability you now labor under, the one you earned yourself when you tried to kidnap Kimiko on your own. I confess, you not being dead was a surprise; you attempting to carve out your own territory, however, much less so. If you'd like to continue that, you may leave. Once. If you return, if you attempt to threaten my lands, I will not be so generous a second time."

"I can feel your energy from _here_ ," Yomi said with a faint sneer. "You couldn't fight your way out of a wet sack."

Yusuke snickered again, earning Yomi's irritated attention.

"Just how damn stupid _are_ you?" Yusuke asked with a grin. "Pops has beat into me often enough that it's not overwhelming power that wins every fight. It's knowing the _fighter_."

"Which is why you always get put through the wall," Hiei put in with a small smirk of his own.

He half-glared at his friend, then snorted.

"Pops is stupidly overpowered, but Sis has proved it often enough," he retorted.

"It is a combination of power and tactics," Kurama interrupted smoothly, his tone lightening with wry amusement. "And Yomi, what I might lack in terms of power, does not make me a lesser foe. If you desire to become nourishment for the plants I have sown, I will certainly be happy to prove the point."

Yusuke pointedly cracked his knuckles for emphasis.

"Relying on your allies to fight with you?" Yomi sneered a little.

Yusuke caught the thin, almost gentle smile that crossed Kurama's face and winced a little. It wasn't an expression he'd ever seen on the redhead, but he suspected it would look right at home on the fox demon he had been.

"Kurama fights his own fights," Hiei said shortly. "And if you didn't know that, you really _are_ stupider than Yusuke."

"Hey!"

* * *

The courtyard would have been dark if not for the various lampweeds that bloomed the moment the sun went down. They were evenly spaced, casting their soft silver light in wide circles from where they sat on top of the various posts and lantern holders, and illuminated the exterior well enough for those who needed it.

Yomi did not, and he found his way to the middle of the courtyard with only a minimum of stumbling... and that was mostly Kurama indulging in his irritation over the situation and lifting roots abruptly under his feet. Given that Yomi stomped down with more force than necessary, it felt like moderately justified retaliation.

Hiei stayed on the porch; Yusuke lounged on the fence. Yomi turned at the far end of the courtyard, and tried to drown out the light of the lampweeds with his own pale green energy aura. Kurama shook his head a little, and folded his arms. He would allow Yomi one chance to leave, once he had pounded him into the ground. If he chose to not take it, well, that was one way to end the situation. It wasn't the preferred solution, but neither was the outcome wholly unexpected either.

Drawn like moths, the former bandits slowly began to congregate; most stayed on the side of the fence that indicated support for Kurama, though two drifted over to stand at Yomi's back. His spies, no doubt; they would either leave with him, or die with him, whichever option proved more workable in the moment.

Silently, Kurama reviewed what he remembered of Yomi's fighting style; he had always been a close-contact fighter, relying on hard, heavy punches. He had only used his energy in small things, usually to improve his speed and stamina...

But he couldn't count on that being the way things were now. Twenty years of learning to compensate for a lack of sight might not have changed his temperament much, but it _had_ to have affected his fighting style.

Yomi's arms crossed over his chest in clear impatience; Kurama loosely wove his fingers through his hair and plucked out a familiar seed, bringing it from inert to weapon with a small application of energy.

"Still favoring flora, Kurama?" Yomi sneered slightly.

The end of the whip coiled loosely on the packed earth, and Kurama only smiled slightly.

"Afraid?"

That did it. Yomi, never the most patient of people, threw himself across the yard at Kurama.

* * *

Kimiko heard the singing first; a faint melody so soft she thought it was just the wind for several moments. As it came clearer, the wordless melody whispered to something in her, tugged at her gently, insistently.

As she stood and stretched, she cast a glance at Touya, whose head had tipped slightly to one side.

"Hear something?" she asked.

"...something strange," he murmured after a minute, eyes narrowing slightly in the darkness. "I don't like it. What do you hear?"

"...singing," she said after a long minute, turning slowly to try and determine where it might be coming from. "Someone's singing."

He caught her arm before she could take more than a step in what felt like the right direction, and instead pulled her back. She squeaked in protest, and tried to pull her arm free, but while it wasn't likely to leave bruises, he had a grip like iron.

"I don't think you should follow it," Touya said flatly. "It's not singing to me."

"Well, maybe you're not listening well enough," she huffed a little.

"It sound like _summoning_."

That gave her pause; summoning spells worked in one of two ways. Exceptionally subtle, or exceptionally _un_ subtle. Unless a person was familiar with them, the insidious summons could cause involuntary loss of control, teasing a person into following a strange sound until they were where the summoner wanted them.

"How do you know what a summoning sounds like?" she asked after a long minute.

He glanced at her, then seemed to realize he had a grip on her that would get most other people slugged and carefully released her before answering.

"How do you think we shinobi were picked?"

A chill not born of his power ran down her spine. Uneasily she crossed her arms over her chest, loosely clasping her hands over her bracers. They represented safety, ties to her father and brother that were necessary for all of them. She half-wished one of the features was teleportation; she coud have done with the keen hearing and solid strength of Raizen right then.

"Okay. Then... recommendations?"

"If you can hear the summoning as something harmless, there's a chance it's attenuated to you," he replied quietly.

Kimiko frowned a little, and the frown deepened to a scowl.

"Come on," she sighed a little. "I might as well snarl with someone sensible to watch my back."

She felt more than saw Touya jolt in surprise.

"It might be better to not answer the summons..."

"If I don't, then I won't get to yell about them trying to lure me when the direct confrontation failed," she pointed out. "I _do not_ appreciate this attempt at manipulation. Especially since Father's temper would land right at the feet of the dryad, and all my efforts here would go to waste."

This time when Kimiko started moving in the direction of the singing, Touya fell in quietly behind her.

Outside the peripheral field, the singing was louder and the pull more insistent.

 _Come this way,_ the wordless tune seemed to say. _We are waiting for you. You will find a true home with us. We will protect you. Only we will love you. Come this way._

Pushing back her temper, Kimiko managed to keep herself to a more or less sedate stomp. It helped that the forest itself really _was_ as dark as the inside of a pocket and she had to pick her way across roots and bracken, some of which rustled in a threatening manner, even as Touya ghosted along at her side, ice wrapped around one hand in a keen blade.

This forest was large enough that Kimiko was starting to regret her desire for confrontation by the time they found the small clearing. At first glance it was empty, bathed in a startling shaft of silver moonlight. As if they were in Ningenkai, and not Makai.

"This is all very theatrical and pretty, but _I don't appreciate the bullshit_ ," she called into the clearing. "You can knock it off now."

Touya coughed a little at her side, and she glanced at him. He looked somewhere between amused and appalled, and she just shrugged unapologetically.

"I did say I was going to snarl," she pointed out.

And really, in a situation like this, acting more like Yusuke might actually get her some answers faster.

The singing faded out, but slowly, and Kimiko remained on the edge of the clearing, arms crossed over her chest. She half-expected the clearing itself to go dark, but instead, it seemed to shimmer, to _beckon_.

"Touya, _is_ there a moon up there?"

He glanced up, then shook his head; as she had suspected, as she had _known_ , night in this part of Makai was nothing but darkness. The moonlight was just as much a fake as the message they had been trying to lure her in with.

Annoyed wasn't a difficult state to reach. She could be annoyed quite easily, all things considered. She was annoyed now, as a matter of fact, because manipulation was one of the things she hated _most_ after suffering it for her first two decades. But annoyance didn't typically sublimate into actual anger, because anger took _effort_.

But moment by moment, the temper she shared with her brother was waking.

She let her arms uncross, bringing one fist to her waist as she gathered lavender energy into it.

"I'm actually getting _angry_ now," she said flatly. "Either come out, or go away, I don't care which but _knock it off_ with the bullshit attempts at manipulation!"

Silence. The clearing continued to shimmer invitingly.

"Touya, two steps back please."

The former shinobi immediately obeyed as she took up an archery stance, much the same as her brother; she couldn't say where the energy was specifically located, so she was just going to have to blow up the whole damn clearing.

* * *

Kurama skidded back from Yomi's onslaught of punches, and bought himself some space with a burst of razor sharp rose petals and thorns. Despite the power difference and physical handicaps, they were still fairly evenly matched; Kurama could count at least half a dozen cracked ribs, his lip was split, and he was bound to be bruised from top to toe. It was a good thing he'd chosen clothes he had no attachment to as well, since they were marked with energy burns, shredded and would probably just need replacement over repair.

Yomi was more or less covered in shallow cuts that bled sluggishly, staining the clothes he wore, and dripping in some places to the ground below where seeds of hungry plants waited. Kurama was fairly positive that the last exchange had ended with Yomi's shoulder being dislocated, and the other demon certainly did seem to be favoring it.

He could have ended the fight easily enough, admittedly. Yomi was shedding more than enough blood for him to use any of the lethal Makai plants drawn to the scent. But ultimately, this was less about death and more about releasing festering emotions.

Also, really, he just wanted Yomi to go away at this point. Dead was an option, but no longer a preference.

With a snapping pop and a snarl, Yomi wrenched his arm back into its socket; Kurama just sighed at the theatrics of it, and flicked his whip lightly, snaking it around Yomi's ankles and pulling hard. The other demon windmilled briefly, then went down whether he liked it or not, only saving himself from further injury by the knowledge of _how_ to fall.

He didn't have to be upright to throw energy blasts, and throw them he did, forcing Kurama to duck away; Yomi never _had_ learned how to lose gracefully...

A few came back, deflected by Yusuke or Hiei, Kurama wasn't sure; they did seem to be trying to prevent unnecessary damage to the manor house if nothing else. The rest of the grounds were going to need a good deal of repair work after this, that much was certain.

Yomi struggled to sit up, catching one of his own energy blasts in the chest before he could reach for the vine at his ankles. Kurama released him as the blast threw Yomi backwards in a heap, but remained at the ready. It wouldn't be the first time Yomi had feigned unconsciousness in a bid to get Kurama into close range...

As the dust and dirt cleared, Kurama watched warily as Yomi came into view. He was breathing harshly, flat on his back, and finally seemed inclined to just stay down for a bit.

Kurama coiled the whip carefully, unwilling to release his weapon,and waited patiently.

"So then," Yomi ground out finally, still laying on his back. "What now?"

"You leave. Take your spies with you," Kurama replied calmly. "Any who wish to leave with you, they may do so."

"Mercy," Yomi spat. "How unlike you."

"I can, of course, rescind that. I know of at least three plants that are beautiful when they feed off the life of another demon. I only offer it now for the sake of what once was."

The words were mild; the threat in them was not. Mercy was a weapon in and of itself; most used it as a manipulation tactic to provoke someone into getting stronger until they were _worth_ the effort of beating. Kurama knew that if he let Yomi go, there was a good chance that Yomi would come back with revenge as a motivator.

But he would not be merciful a second time.

Slowly, clearly in pain, Yomi levered himself up into a sitting position; Kurama tensed, more than ready to wrap the thorn whip around Yomi's throat if it became necessary, but Yomi just waved at the pair of demons that had stood on his side of the yard for the whole fight.

"All right Kurama, I'll leave you to this," he growled. "But you'd best watch your back in the future."

Kurama smiled thinly; seeds clung to Yomi's bloodstained clothing, and a few had worked their way into his injuries. He could feel them, and while Yomi might find some, he was unlikely to find all.

"If you set foot in my territory, or threaten what's mine, what happens will be on your head," he replied quietly.

Yomi spat blood and phlegm into the dirt before allowing his two spies to help him out of the ring, and off into what was left of the night.

Kurama didn't dismiss his whip until he felt them pass beyond the exterior castle wall. Even then, he turned slowly, holding tight to a facade of dignity; those who had watched the fight from start to end fell back quickly as he moved from the ring to the porch, and only once he was inside, Yusuke and Hiei with him, did he allow himself to falter.

Yusuke caught him and helped keep him from falling over.

"Damn, dude," he said lowly. "You gonna live?"

"I think your sister would throw the worst fit if I didn't," he said dryly, trying not to wince as Yusuke's firm grip pressed on injured ribs. "Which would be well-justified, I just don't think anyone would survive her retaliation."

"...probably not," Yusuke agreed. "What next?"

"Sleep," Kurama replied. "Orders for whoever's staying after I wake up and clean up a bit better. Then... hopefully back to Tourin, where I told Shats to report to me with information on Reikai troop movements."

Tourin... and Kimiko.

* * *

It was kind of funny to hear Touya muttering under his breath, somewhere between pained and awed. The silver light had gone out in the clearing, and over half the ground was shattered; the air still reverberated like the interior of a bell, and all creatures had scattered into the rest of the woods.

"Was that _really_ necessary?" he asked.

"This is what happens when people try to manipulate me," Kimiko replied, dusting her hands off lightly.

She felt better, calmer, after the little display, no matter how childish is might have been. As the dirt and dust settled, revealing a clearing that was no longer empty, she crossed her arms across her chest, and glared at... what was her name again? Ad.. Aud... Adrya! That was it.

Adrya, for her part, looked stunned. The sleeveless kimono was ruffled and torn in a couple spots—shrapnel, perhaps?—and there was a stick in her mass of curly hair, directly between her horns. It would have been funny if Kimiko hadn't still been annoyed.

"I told you," Kimiko said tightly, "that if you wanted to talk to me, you come to Tourin."

"You are a youngling," Adrya said after a long minute, trying to cobble together the veneer of friendliness and only succeeding in sounding condescending. "You know little of what you-

"My _father_ lives in Tourin. My _brother_ lives in Tourin," Kimiko snapped, cutting her off. "Despite what you seem to think, I didn't climb into a Blossom voluntarily! I wasn't _reborn_ , I was just _born_ , and let me tell you, this has done _nothing_ to make my life easy. Unless you're willing to talk plain and open, the only thing I want from you is to _leave me alone_."

Adrya seemed to pull herself together at Kimiko's sharp words, getting to her feet with care, and frowning down at the damage to her clothing.

"Dismiss your friend," she suggested. "We can-"

"No. Tourin Palace, or not at all, Adrya. And I swear, if you try to manipulate me again, I'll take a break from dealing with Reikai to deal with _you_."

A smile broke through, sweet and condescending.

"Child, you couldn't hope to-"

"I. Have. Allies."

Touya stepped up to her side, his ice blade held at the ready, and his stance tense; while Kimiko certainly wouldn't order him to fight, the fact that he was willing was touching.

"You seem to be working under some fundamental misinformation," she continued. "I already told you who my father was. I _know_ my family. If I tell them that I'm being bothered, _manipulated_ , by people that don't know how to back off, you can bet that they'll be ready to pull in a group of people to back me up."

Adrya's smile didn't waver... but it did gain an edge. Power slowly grew in the clearing, and Kimiko dropped her crossed arms, moving into a posture from which defense and attack were both possible.

"You're used to people being cowed by your power, or confused by _their_ power. I get that. Thing is? You don't scare me, and I'm not as confused or as lost as you expected me to be. I have _work_ to be doing, and you're getting in the middle of that. Now. If you want to be _polite_ , I'm going home in a few hours. I should be there in two days at the latest. Tourin has plenty of private nooks that we can hold polite conversation in.

"Try and manipulate me again, though, and I _will_ tell my father that I need to borrow his army."

It took effort to turn on her heel and walk away, heading back towards the dryad village. She remained tense, ready for an attack as Touya joined her, his cautious steps indicating that he was walking backwards until the clearing was well out of sight.

They remained silent until Touya led her back through the periphery field, at which point he dismissed the ice blade, and sighed a little.

"Was that a new declaration of war?" he asked, his tone wryly resigned.

"I'd really rather not," Kimiko grumbled, throwing herself down on a moss-covered log. "I just want them to back off. If she was more polite and less 'I am older and wiser and know better', it wouldn't hurt."

"What will you do?"

"Sit up all night again, because I'd rather not be sneak-sleep-summoned. I doubt this is over..."

Touya nodded, and settled on the log beside her. He asked no questions, though she didn't doubt that he had many, and allowed her the privacy of her thoughts.

And it was in this oddly companionable silence that they passed the night through.


	8. Eight

Eight

"Dude, where the _hell_ have you been?" Yusuke demanded, practically jumping across the dreamscape to grab her by the shoulders and shake her. "Why the fuck are you _not_ sleeping at night?!"

Kimiko pried his fingers off her arms and made a face at him. Yusuke made a face back, but refrained from grabbing her again, recognizing that she was on edge and just as likely to hit him as hug him. Still, it had been almost a _week_ , and only _now_ was she showing up when she ought to?

"There's been a lot going on, and you over-react to everything," she retorted. "It's not like this is all easy fun and games, you know. When are you guys getting back?"

"Another day. Things got blown up, and Kurama wanted most of it fixed before we dragged him back."

Okay, so it was petty of him to respond by giving her only a tiny bit of information, but he'd been _worried_ , damnit! And here she was withholding information on him? Well, two could damn well play that game!

The problem of course, was the Kimiko did not handle that kind of news _well_. It was his turn to be grabbed, and Yusuke was forcibly reminded that she took protection of her few precious people _very_ seriously. She didn't shake him, but the look of fear in her eyes had him mentally kicking himself.

"Are you hurt?! What about Kurama or Hiei?! Do you guy need me to come find you? What happened?!"

"Whoa, whoa, okay, chill! Easy!" he protested, grabbing her hands carefully. "We're _fine!_ Kurama's probably gonna have some bruises still by the time we make it back, but the one that got pounded into the ground was Yomi!"

"Y..."

Kimiko's eyes went wide, and then narrowed; recognizing irritation, Yusuke managed to duck out of her grip and flopped down onto a pile of cushions. He didn't mind waiting while she steamed; she was _here_ , and she looked okay, so he was willing to relax while she got it out of her system. It didn't seem to take long for her to calm down again, at least, and after a few moments she conjured up her own pile of cushions to sink into with a sigh.

"Everyone's really okay?"

"Yup. Kurama really gave him what-for," Yusuke snickered a little. "Verbally _and_ physically. Man, you would've _loved_ it. How'd your shit go down, anyways?"

"Well, Koenma finally admitted aloud that he's going to have to take care of his father, we've a census from the dryad about how many there are and who want to learn how to fight, and we're... likely to be entertaining some strange visitors. Maybe, anyways. They haven't show up yet, so I don't..."

He knew _that_ look too, and picked up one of his pillows, ready to throw it if she refused to give him more details. She scowled at him, but it lacked heat.

"It's _complicated_ ," she said tartly.

"...so uncomplicate shit. That's what you're good at."

She rolled her eyes, lips twitching a little in amusement.

"I'm going to pretend you meant that in a complimentary way, because you just insulted yourself there, brother dear."

Yusuke just shrugged; it was no _secret_ that he was kind of an idiot. He _did_ shit, he didn't _talk about_ shit. That was her forte, and one he was more than glad to let her have. It was kind of funny, really, that the one who'd lived half her life in isolation was the one who worked better with words.

Not that he was going to tell her that. For one thing, he really _would_ get slugged.

Kimiko smiled at him a little more fondly this time, then leaned back into her pillow pile, her expression turning pensive. When she next spoke, Yusuke felt a rock form in his gut.

"They seemed to be people... like me."

* * *

"Like her?" Kurama raised an eyebrow, unable to deny his own concern. "Like her how?"

"She said it'd be easier to explain whenever we got back, because she didn't wanna do it more than once," Yusuke groused, kicking idly at a small branch as they finished packing up the camp. "But I think she means they've got her special abilities, and shit like that."

Kurama grimaced a little; that was definitely enough to unsettle anyone. A power that Kimiko only half-understood at best, in the hands of people that _did_ understand it?

"She didn't look entirely thrilled about the idea," Yusuke said with a shrug. "I mean, she probably is curious, cause Sis can't leave shit alone, but at the same time... Ah hell, I dunno. Maybe Pops can make better sense of it."

"Given how much of her true power is shrouded in the unknown, I doubt anyone would blame her for being curious," Kurama pointed out, as he bent to smother what was left of the fire. "Nor for being cautious."

"Maybe. I think she was annoyed about it too. She had that _look_ , y'know?"

He had to smile as Yusuke gestured slightly, nodding a little. Kimiko _did_ get that sort of set expression when she was irritated about something, but didn't want to be obvious about it.

"Well, if we move quickly enough, we can make it back to the palace by the end of the day. The sooner, the better really."

"You just want a nice bed to sleep in," Yusuke mocked with a grin.

"And you do not wish a sweet apparition to curl up next to?" Kurama countered with a small smile.

Yusuke scoffed a little and threw a few pebbles at him.

* * *

"I'm going to strangle him," Kimiko muttered, arms crossed over her chest.

"Oh dear," Yukina smiled a little ruefully, though she didn't actually look up from the meticulous work of weaving lace. "What did Yusuke do now?"

"...I'm going to admit that I love the fact that you know it's Yuu and not anybody else that's upset me," Kimiko said after a moment, listening briefly to the steady clicking of bobbins. "And he's an ass, that's what."

Yukina giggled a little, freeing a hand to briefly pat Kimiko on the shoulder before shifting one of the millions of pins to hold the line in place.

"Well, you've only been awake for a few hours, and Koenma's still in the library. Touya's too... circumspect, Jin's out with Momo, and I've never heard you threaten to strangle your father, which means it must be your brother," she said practically. "So?"

"He said the reason it's taking so long is because there was a fight. I practically had to shake out of him that no one was really hurt, they'd just been doing clean up," Kimiko huffed a little.

"Oh dear... Did he tell you what happened?"

"The bare bones of it, if nothing else. Yomi got word of Kurama's return, I guess, and made a visit. He was annoyingly light on the details, though he did say I'd have enjoyed watching it." She made a face. "I'd honestly forgotten about Yomi... Now I find myself wondering what happened to him, and if maybe I could have... I don't know... done something to prevent this."

"Who's Yomi?"

Kimiko leaned back against the couch pensively, then yelped as Tensei came bouncing over the back of it; the childish cat demon giggled at her, then play-tackled a huge soft pillow made for just that. She huffed at the boy, then shook her head a little.

"It'll sound weird, but he tried to kidnap me the same day everything... fell apart. I don't really know that much about him, except that he was part of Kurama's old gang of thieves, and in the end, also Satori's pawn. I... thought he'd died, actually."

The bobbins clicked steadily as Tensei attacked his giant pillow with very feline growls. It was an oddly soothing setting, allowing Kimiko to piece together her thoughts without being rushed.

"I wasn't really in the best place to think about it," she finally said. "Maybe I was even hoping he'd died, because... because of Kurama's..."

No, he was alive now... but alive now didn't erase the sting of panic that was difficult to ignore after several days of less than proper sleep. And alive or not, Yusuke had said he was _hurt_. Bruises were still a hurt, and oh, she wanted to rush off and _find them_.

A hand rested over hers, and she realized the bobbins had stopped.

"Breathe, Kimiko," Yukina instructed her gently. "Slow and easy. You're all right."

She obeyed on reflex; Yukina had been the one who'd helped talk her through a lot of her early fits, and the sweetness of the koorime was not to be overlooked. Bit by bit, she managed to pull herself back into something that resembled calm... though she wouldn't be _truly_ calm until they made it home and she could see for herself that everyone was in one piece.

"There you go," and she smiled softly. "I'm sure they'll be back soon, and then you can attempt to smother Yusuke with a pillow."

Kimiko smiled weakly, then yelped as Tensei abandoned his pillow to jump on her instead. Yukina only giggled, and the steady clicking of bobbins resumed while Kimiko play-wrestled with her nephew.

* * *

Koenma tapped his fingers lightly on the table, taking care to avoid toppling any of the piles he'd made. The palace layout had always seemed so simple; his quarters were there, that hall led to his father's throne room, here were the offices, that was for the army...

But there was so much empty space. Floors above the guest halls that he knew nothing about, basements and sub-basements that he'd never spent much time thinking about because why would he? He'd never needed to go into any of them. Botan, sitting across from him, looked worried; she'd filled in the areas she knew well, where other spirit guides worked, trained, and received their assignments, but she knew even less about the palace than he did.

"Break time," Amber said firmly, breaking into his thoughts as she dropped a tray of food between the two apparitions. "Forcing things will only give you more of a headache than you already have."

"I never said-"

"You don't have to. Both of you have that look. Take a break and eat something; you'll need it."

Koenma blinked at her, and she grinned a little, pointing at the visible clock.

"Training in two hours."

That made him groan a little, and drop his head to the table, though he was careful to miss the still wet lines of the map only just finished.

"Can't I skip it today?" he asked.

"That's for Lady Kimiko to decide," Amber replied, very carefully moving the papers away from any potential spills.

"Given that she's been working with us despite not getting enough sleep herself, we can _all_ guess that answer," Botan said with a wry little smile as she lifted a cup of tea from the tray.

Koenma grumbled a little in agreement and picked up a cup of his own. It didn't seem fair that Kimiko would be allowed to work herself into exhaustion, but he wasn't given quite that same option. Then again, it was rarely Kimiko who made him _stop;_ no, that dubious honor went to the two women he was currently sharing space and food with, both of whom had very unique ways of badgering.

Amber simply refused to take no for an answer, and he could only put her off once or twice with 'just a few more minutes' before she simply took away what he was working on and stared at him, daring him to try and get it back.

Botan had apparently decided that unbridled enthusiasm for coming to see what new and interesting thing she'd found worked... and admittedly, it did. For such short women, they were both much stronger than their frames would suggest, and they could easily tow him around when they wanted to, no matter how much he dug in his heels.

Which, if he was being honest, he didn't entirely want to do. It was oddly _fun_ being pulled around like he was a favorite toy. And while he didn't entirely appreciate Amber taking his things away, he did accept that she was just trying to make sure he looked out for himself. She did give them back if he took a five minute break, if nothing else.

"She's going to get dogpiled when the boys gets back, I bet," Botan said with a small giggle. "Though I wouldn't care to bet on who's going to be fussier."

"That's a no brainer; it'll be Yusuke," Koenma snorted a little. "He'll be the loudest about it, at least."

"He might," Amber nodded a little, "but he might also already know about it, and why, so he could choose to stand back and let Lord Kurama do the concerned scolding."

Koenma tried not to flush a little, and looked down at the plate of food he'd picked up; _he_ knew—or he thought he did, anyways—why Kimiko was up late at night, pacing or training, and taking spotty naps during the day. If it was the reason he thought it was, he couldn't blame her for being uncertain about what to say... the memory of those three powerful demons, apparently reborn from Wish Blossoms, kept _him_ awake at night.

What _would_ she tell them? Or would she say anything at all?

"Well, it'll be good when they get back, at least. It's much too quiet around here without Yusuke stirring things up!"

"Speak for yourself," Koenma snorted a little. "You're not the one who gets stuck training with him when everyone else is away."

Botan looked a little sheepish, but Amber only snickered.

"If you would use your energy the way it ought to be used, you'd get injured less," the fire-demon pointed out.

"I'd leave humans more vulnerable," he retorted.

"Humans are already vulnerable," Amber replied, chin in hands. "They're only a fraction of the strength of demons or apparitions, and they die so easily on their own."

It was hard to argue with that, but he bristled a little anyways. She probably didn't _mean_ to sound dismissive, but it certainly came across that way.

"Now, now," Botan raised her hands quickly. "Just because humans aren't like us doesn't mean we have to treat them like they're any less deserving of life. They live it so enthusiastically, you know? I think that's worth protecting."

Koenma smiled a little at her, grateful, and tried not to laugh when she blushed a little and ducked her head slightly.

"...I apologize,"Amber said after a moment, sounding more thoughtful. "That wasn't quite what I wanted to say. Especially not with the fact that we're likely to go toe-to-toe with King Enma's army to protect those very humans."

Since it sounded like a genuine apology, he decided it couldn't hurt to let her know why he tended to be so... low on available energy.

"The energy stored up in this pacifier can be saved for times when humans really are at their lowest points," he said, gesturing slightly to the mafukan. "But a lot of the spells stored take more energy than any one apparition can expend, even if they use up all of their life as well. Since I plan to live a very _very_ long time, I've been storing the energy in here for just that sort of scenario. Maybe I can't use _all_ my own energy for things like fighting, but I'm not really built to be a physical fighter."

"You've come a long way since you started," Amber pointed out.

"Maybe, but I'm barely competent," he replied with a faintly self-depreciating grin. "I can defend myself, but that's about it, and I think everyone knows it. _Botan_ is better at it that I am."

Botan blushed and waved her hands a little frantically.

"Oh, no, I'm sure you're-"

"No, really, you are. If we get back and you decide you don't want to ferry spirits, I'd definitely be glad to have you watching my back."

Amber laughed at both of them as Botan blushed even more; Koenma had to admit that he was feeling a little embarrassed about it himself, and ran a hand through his hair, mussing it briefly.

"There's still a ways to go before we even get _there_ ," the fire demon said. "We need more information about King Enma's plans, and the shape of the rebellion in Reikai. Once everyone's back, there's undoubtedly going to be a strict planning session, and everyone's going to get something to do."

Koenma nodded soberly; it was time and past that he found a way to make contact with the rebellion in Reikai, to see what he could offer to them that would earn him their support. It was going to be hard to avoid promising anything; he didn't know the state of affairs in Reikai as it was, other than his father's army seemed to be splitting to fight two fronts. The rebels, of course, but where was that second front going to end up? Makai? Or would they take the fight to Ningenkai, and force the demons to respond on that front instead?

Well, hopefully they would know more soon.

"How did I know I'd find a congregation?"

All three of them looked up at Kimiko stepped between the shelves, a half-smile on her face.

"Because the library is the best place for one?" Koenma offered after a startled moment.

"Hm. True," Kimiko shrugged lightly. "Yusuke and the others should be back at some point this evening. Give it another day or two, and we ought to be able to sit down and have a serious planning attempt."

"Not one to waste time, huh?" Koenma teased a little.

"Have I ever been?" she retorted, reaching over to give him a very light shove. "We need to get moving on a number of things, even if it means putting ourselves in something of a bad light. How's the map coming?"

"Slowly," Koenma sighed a little, and nudged the sheets carefully towards her. "That top one is still a bit wet..."

She nodded and carefully picked them up flicking through them cautiously.

"Well, it's better than what we had before, which was nothing," Kimiko said after a moment. "Botan, are you ready to start flying rings around people again?"

"Ready and waiting!" the blue-haired apparition chirped.

"Good," and Kimiko's half-smile was a little wry. "I have an idea, but it's dangerous."

"How dangerous?" Koenma asked, sitting up.

"Dangerous enough that it might be beneficial to put Amber on too. Assuming, of course, that having a passenger won't affect your speed any?"

Amber looked startled, and a little wary, Koenma noticed. Botan tipped her head a little, looking more curious than anything else.

"No, it shouldn't. At least, one passenger shouldn't cause trouble. What do you want me to do?"

Kimiko's smile was wry... and almost looked mischievous.

"How would you feel about recruiting more guides?"

Botan blinked in surprise, as Koenma made a wordless protest. Kimiko slanted a glance at him, an eyebrow raised.

"Sending her back to Reikai is too dangerous right now!" he said. "We don't know what's going on there!"

"She's recovered from her last foray, and so has Amber," Kimiko replied, frowning at him slightly. "Frankly, she's our _easy_ way into Reikai right now, unless or until Kurama's earthwalkers start reporting in."

"She is right, sir," Botan said, though her tone was almost meek. "The abilities of a spirit guide lend themselves to slipping easily between the worlds, and the faster we go, the sooner things happen."

"I just..." Koenma groped for the right words. "It's..."

"It's not going to happen right _now_ " Kimiko interrupted. "For one thing, I want everyone who can be to be here when the boys finally get back. But keep it in mind for later, all right?"

Botan nodded immediately, and Koenma frowned a little down at his plate, not liking the idea one _bit_. A little annoyed, he started eating single-mindedly, not noticing when Kimiko walked off, nor really hearing the conversation of the two women across from him. Maybe Kimiko _did_ have it right, but wasn't Botan still _his_ retainer? How could she suggest such a dangerous situation? How could _Botan_ go along with it?

It was probably the first time he was looking forward to training; this frustration needed to be let out somehow, and a tantrum just didn't feel like the right way to do it.

* * *

Kimiko shook her head a little as Koenma was once more pinned to the ground, Touya kneeling almost politely on his back. He had walked into the room riding a grumpy attitude, and now he was paying for it, showing a lack of focus that was, to put it plainly, annoying. He flailed ineffectively for a moment, then sighed a little.

As Touya got off, Kimiko approached, then waited for Koenma to get up, hands on her hips.

"I'll tell you what I learned through experience, because you seem to not understand this," she said, tone tart. "Pay attention to what you're doing _right now_ , or you're going to eat more stone than you already have."

He at least had the grace to look embarrassed by the scolding. He also had the sense to not try and offer an excuse, which was a decided improvement on how he had first begun.

"Very interesting takedown, by the way, Touya," she said, glancing at the ice master, who smiled faintly. "Interested in teaching that one?"

"I'd need someone to demonstrate on, and-"

"Not it!" Koenma immediately said.

Kimiko laughed.

"Jin probably wouldn't mind," Touya said, a tiny twitch at the corners of his mouth suggesting that he was also amused. "He does make a good training dummy."

"More amenable to it that Yuu is, at any rate," Kimiko snickered a little. "Hey, Jin! C'mere and be Touya's demonstration partner!"

The redhead in question looked up from his lounging position on one of the benches; he'd been inclined to watch today, which was why it had been the calmer, steadier Touya who had been sparring with Koenma.

"Am I bein invited tae get beat up on?" he called back with a grin.

"Yes, yes you are. So come and collect bruises!"

He laughed, and bounced to his feet without complaint; as he wandered over, Kimiko waved the girls over as well, and they all sat crossed legged on the stone while Jin and Touya set up for the throw in question.

Touya's modified throw led to Jin demonstrating a different way to feint an attack that lured the opponent into a weaker position, led to demonstrating and entirely new set of moves built around lower body skills, led to everyone—Kimiko included—being walked through that set of moves, and then run through it one after the other, until everyone was worn out.

Koenma half-limped out—he'd gotten a slight sprain there at the end thanks to missing the proper twist on the move and nearly falling flat on his face without help—supported on one side by Amber, and trailed by Botan. He seemed, to Kimiko's eye, like he was more relaxed now if nothing else.

Jin, Touya, and Momo left directly after, deep in discussion about the best ways to help train the dryad, something Kimiko was more than willing to leave up to them. That would be one _less_ project she had to focus on, and she was not loathe to give that up. The more independent the dryad were, the better, all things considered.

Lost in thought, she headed out last after ensuring the training rooms was neat, and headed for her rooms. After all of that, a bath was just the thing to relax with. Because soon enough her brother would be home, and there was a _lot_ to talk about.

* * *

It was good to be within walls of Tourin again, and not just because the palace was where Kimiko lived. Though he hadn't quite meant for it to, Tourin had become a home. He knew and understood most of the demons who lived and worked in its walls; their loyalties and their strengths, their weaknesses, and how they could be used.

Beside him, Yusuke stretched a little, and seemed to relax himself.

"Man, it's good to be back," he said with a grin. "I'm gonna go report in to Pops and then have myself a soak. You?"

"A hot bath does sound like a good idea," Kurama admitted with a small smile. "I wouldn't wish to disturb anyone."

"Dude, if you don't show your face, Sis will eat it," Yusuke snickered a little. "And not in the good way. Hell, she's probably going to want to kick _my_ ass for not giving her enough details to go on about the fight."

"Then perhaps we should hurry through the requisite so that neither of us gets harmed?"

Yusuke shrugged nonchalantly, stuffing his hands in his pockets as they entered the main palace.

"Eh, Sis knows I gotta check in first; I got at least til morning before she tries to jump me. You? Might not be so lucky."

"That entirely depends on how you define luck, Yusuke."

Hiei just rolled his eyes at both of them, pushing past and ahead, taking a turn that led him off in the direction of the kitchens. Yusuke snickered a little.

"He's never gonna admit that he likes someone else cooking for him way better than cooking for himself."

"Undoubtedly," Kurama chuckled slightly. "But there's no harm in that. Best hurry, my friend, before Lord Raizen gets impatient."

Yusuke clapped him briefly on the shoulder before bounding down the hallway and taking the turn that would eventually lead to his father's rooms; Kurama stifled the wince, and made the slower climb to his own rooms, seeking a bath first. Washing the dust of the road seemed like a better option, even if it meant delaying a while longer before he got to see Kimiko and soothe his own mild anxiety over her odd words.

* * *

"I don't know that it'll be worth the effort," Botan was saying as Amber entered the small debriefing room. "Other spirit guides don't generally take much interest in politics, we just... take our assignments, and do the duties required of us."

"So if anyone would be neutral parties, or at least regarded as that, it'd be your lot," Kimiko pointed out. "That could be useful. We need neutral to avoid upsetting people unduly."

"Well, yes... I just don't know that it would actually do us any good to try and recruit them. I don't think Prince Koenma likes the idea either."

"He doesn't," Amber said, making Botan jump a little.

"Of course he doesn't," Kimiko made a face, leaning back in her chair. "He's only just realized how much he's deliberately missed, and he's worried about you both getting hurt again, like you did last time. I think he also slightly resents the idea that I'm the one who's sending both of you into danger."

"Whether it's you or him, I don't think it matter much in the end, m'lady," Amber said plopping down on the couch next to Botan. She was surprised and a little warmed when the spirit guide shifted a little to lean against her. "I'll defer to Botan on this one, since she knows her fellow guides the best, but it's still our choice to take the mission or not."

And if she had to, she could probably explain it to him. She doubted he'd _like_ it, but he was acting weirder than usual, especially for someone who'd finally decided to get up and do something about the trouble being caused.

"True enough," and Kimiko's small smile was wry. "And really, if you don't think it's worth it, Botan, I won't argue. You _do_ know the other guides better than the rest of us."

"...I'd like to check in on them," Botan admitted, looking a little embarrassed, "but I don't think I can just walk into the living quarters as though I haven't been away this long."

"Hm... true. I hadn't thought about that," Kimiko frowned slightly, propping her chin in her hands. "Did you have friends?"

"Sort of. I mean, _I_ thought of them as my friends, but really they're more the people who had moments of relaxation at the same time as I did, so I can't really be sure..."

Amber loosely put an arm around Botan's shoulders.

"What about writing a letter for someone you can trust?" she asked after a moment. "Didn't Lord Koenma have someone like that too?"

"Oh dear, yes. Poor Jorge, he must be so worried about what's happened. He's not really the... taking charge sort, unfortunately," and Botan smiled wryly. "He'll follow orders, but he doesn't have Prince Koenma's air of authority."

"It's a place to start though," Kimiko said, leaning forward a little with clear interest on her face. "If he takes orders from Koenma, then maybe he's someone we can ask to get a little bit of insider information. Even just a little more on what's going on in Reikai would probably help us out, though not enough to cause any trouble. I don't want people getting executed because they helped us."

Botan shivered a little, and Amber squeezed her shoulder lightly in comfort.

"We should talk to Lord Koenma about Jorge, then," the fire demon said after a moment. "He'd probably like to have some insight as it is."

"True enough. If you three come up with a workable plan, by all means, go for it," Kimiko nodded a little.

"A hands off approach, my lady?" Amber asked with a small grin.

Kimiko grinned back.

"Anything related to Reikai is going to be officially in Koenma's hands from now on," she replied. "I've already got copies of everything we've learned about the rebellion, and everything the dryad have told us, no matter how reluctantly. He gets to read them _all_ over the next few days until he's as caught up as he can be."

Botan blinked, then giggled a little.

"This is because the boys are back, isn't it?~" she teased.

Kimiko just tipped her head slightly to the side and only smiled a little... but it seemed somehow off. Not _happy_ the way it ought to look, more pensive, but trying not to be. Amber studied her for a moment, then decided to not press; if they were meant to know, they would be told.

"In any case, it's probably good for you," Botan continued, either unawares, or pretending to be, of the oddity in Kimiko's smile. "You've been doing pretty much everything ever since we all got here!"

"It's been a unique experience," Kimiko replied, her smile turning more naturally wry. "I'll be glad to let Koenma step up and take over, though. In the end, it's _his_ kingdom we're working to fix. I didn't want us to come across as an invading army, so if this pans out properly, there won't be that much to worry about, _and_ we'll finally have that solid peace treaty~"

* * *

Koenma looked at the piles of papers that littered the room and tried not to groan; he'd brought this all on himself, he knew, by remaining out of the loops...

There was just so _much_. Couldn't all of this have come in a vocal debrief or something? It seemed like a waste of paper and ink to have everything written out like this.

If he was being honest, he would admit that he didn't really want to sit and read it all. He needed to, he knew he did, he just didn't _want_ to.

"Couldn't she have sorted this into pertinent and not?" he muttered to himself as he edged around the stacks in a bid to get to the couch. "Did we _really_ get this much information in eight months?"

Had it _been_ eight months already?

He sank onto the couch carefully when he reached it, and contemplated the paper towers with an air of resignation. Clearly, Kimiko had been more focused than he'd thought. And now he had to catch up, take charge. Reikai was _his_ world. His future.

Wasn't it?

He tipped his head back, trading his adult form for the toddler one, and let out a tired sigh. Why couldn't his father have just been happy with what he had? Why did they need a foothold into Makai, why did he _want_ to start trouble with this infinite plane of existence? True, if he hadn't, Koenma never would have met the twins, but still.

Rubbing his face with pudgy hands, Koenma contemplated the ceiling for several minutes. In truth, he couldn't remember a time when demons _weren't_ considered the enemy to the denizens of Reikai. Even when he'd been a true baby, aware enough to remember servant conversations, he'd heard whispers of the dangers of Makai. The beings who thirsted for human blood and flesh, who warred amongst themselves for every scrap of everything.

And while they weren't entirely _wrong_ , they also were nowhere near absolutely correct. Demons looked after themselves, and maybe they could come across as more selfish, but they were people. They could be as self-centered as some of Reikai's more annoying nobility, or as selfless as the spirit guides who soothed souls that had passed unexpectedly, and every stripe in between.

But Reikai still painted them with the same broad brush; demons were bad. Spirits were good. Humans needed protection from the corrupting influence of the demons.

That made him snort a little; as if the humans themselves didn't contribute to the problem, fighting over every little thing that crossed their lives. He followed it up with a sigh, and shook his head again; humans were no different, really. The major difference between the three races was the levels of power that could be commanded. Every demon, every apparition, had some sort of power. It could be as small and inoffensive as growing plants, or as dangerous as the abilities of Raizen. Humans couldn't command that same ability.

Oh, sure, there were plenty of humans who had energy enough to create wards, portals, weapons of spiritual energy, and so on, but they were nowhere near as numerous. Maybe ten in two hundred humans could access their power, and then of those ten, only three had the potential to be _truly_ powerful.

Could he take time to find those particular people? That would be something to do, maybe, while he also caught up on his paperwork. Maybe creating a mixed task force—humans, demons, apparitions—would help root out the demons and apparitions that were _truly_ causing trouble. Chase his father's people back to Reikai, and any rogue demons who thought they could disobey Raizen back here to Makai...

The idea would need some work—he had no idea how many potential spiritualists there were in Nippon right now, and getting those numbers would take time—but with it in mind, he sat back up and reached for the first folder, ready to start reading.


End file.
